14-80

by kinyamsabajigin

It very good

4. 151-200

"I don't know how to bind anything," Gabriel just stood, staring at his red Sword.

He hadn't learned about this binding yet. However, he understood the importance of it. If he managed to bind these Numens to himself, then no one could use them without his permission. For others, they were going to be no more than wasted artifacts.

If there was anyone who looked like who could teach him, it was the two people ahead of him. Even though they were his challenges, they didn't shy away from imparting their knowledge, maybe because they didn't feel threatened by him.

Whatever being the case, he wanted to learn from them as to how he could bind these artifacts to himself.

"Oh, we know that," Cylix chuckled. "We know that you are like a blank canvas without much information about the things that every mage should know. However, we don't mind helping you."

He glanced at Novius. "Do you want to teach him, or should I?"

Both of them wanted to help Gabriel. There was no doubt about that in their heads.

Novius agreed as he stood up. He walked down the golden steps to come closer to Gabriel.

"The most important thing when you bind a treasure to yourself is your blood as it is your blood which contains the essence of your Element and your soul, both." Novius raised his hand, making a small white crystal appear before him, which was semi-transparent as if it didn't really exist in reality.

The small crystal floated in the air before Novius, who made a small scratch on his finger to make it bleed. He let a blood droplet call on the crystal and then used that blood droplet to make a symbol on the crystal.

After he was fine, he stepped back a bit. "That is it. That's the basic formation that one can use to bind a Numen to them. Observe from closer and learn it, so you never forget."

Gabriel stepped closer and looked at the blood formation from closer, which was white simple. The formation seemed like two stars were made, connecting with each other inside a blood circle that protected the stars.

Even the Infernal King also stepped forward, observing the formation carefully.

"You said this is the basic formation? Is there anything more than it?" he asked Novius.

"Of course there is, but that's not important. You can make your personal signature, or any Symbol, on top of the present basic formation, as a form of a unique formation that only you make. That often acts as a sign of who the owner really is, to keep the others away. However, that's not really needed. You'll be fine even if you don't do it.

"There are many who make unique formations with the basic, personal to them to be more attached to their Numens," Novius explained. "However, there are also ones who go with the basics, not caring about having a personal binding formation."

"Novius was the one who never chose to make any unique marks on his binding formations," Cylix chimed in. "On the contrary, I made sure to make my own binding formation with my signature. Why would I hide that I own a Numen? It's my Numen, and I wanted it to have my own unique taste."

He further stated, "There's one more advantage to it. Even though we don't have any evidence for it, I believe that personalizing your bidding formations with a sign or anything that's close to your heart, it makes the binding force even stronger. I think it even strengthens the Numen a little, as it helps the Numens understand us."

"Unfortunately, Novius refused to believe me. I can't prove it either, as it's just a feeling. Who knows, I might be wrong, but I prefer that you personalize your Numen and you be the judge."

"It's your choice if you want to make the basic formation or add more to it. Unlike my friend above, I won't try to influence you. Select what your heart desires," Novius made the small illusory crystal disappear before walking back.

He didn't quite believe Cylix's theory as he had also once tried to personalize his binding formation, but he didn't feel any difference from his usual binding formations. Everything was the same. The only difference was that it took more time than it would've taken with a basic formation. That's why he never tried again.

Novius walked back to the throne and sat on it.

"Go ahead. Give it a try," Cylix suggested. For some reason, neither he nor Novius was in any hurry to bring Gabriel to the next battle yet. Instead, they seemed like Teachers who were trying to reach a student.

It wasn't rare for them either, as they always had a mindset that it was good to spread knowledge. They believed that was the only way a world could grow. That's also why they established the Academy.

However, even though they were compassionate, they were especially kind to Gabriel, as they believed that Gabriel could be their last student. He could very well be the last person who wasn't affected by the lies spread in the outside world that were ever going to come here.

They still didn't know if he was going to win against them or not, but they really wanted him to. That's why they were also trying to increase his strength. In essence, they were trying to make their opponent stronger so that he could have a much better time in defeating them.

Gabriel had managed to memorize the binding formation that Novius created, and he really wanted to try it without delay.

Gabriel turned his sword to the other side to make its hilt face him. At the same time, he also observed everything to make sure that there were indeed no binding formations on the sword before it.

As expected, the sword had no blood mark. The last mark it had was gone with the death of its last owner.

He was still somewhat surprised though. Why didn't anyone at the academy bound the Numens to themselves, possibly the Dean! Why were the treasures kept in the museum without the additional protection of the Binding Formations?

Then again, he also guessed that the Academy didn't truly own the Numens, and not even the Dean was allowed to own the Numens. Moreover, it wasn't as if they were expecting someone to steal all the Numens from right under their noses.

Gabriel made a small cut on his finger with the blade of the Sword of Ulien and made the blood droplet fall on the blade of the Sword, right under the hilt.

He made the two connected stars, just as Novius had shown him, before circling the two stars. As soon as he finished the small formation, he actually felt somewhat connected to the sword. The Sword didn't resist the binding either, as it had been submissive to him in all the battles they went to.

After finishing the formation, Gabriel sat for a few seconds, wondering what he could customize it with. Just what could be his mark... The mark of Gabriel that was unique and personal only to himself.

As he was thinking about what to make, he remembered something. Amongst all his ups and downs, there was one thing that had always been constant. The moon had always been watching over him.

Whenever he missed his mother in his childhood and cried on the roof all alone, it was the beauty of the moon in which he found his true solace.

Whenever he was feeling down, he came to the roof at night, sleeping under the moonlight. If there was anyone, he told all his hopes and dreams; it was the moon in the sky.

Even on the day which was supposed to be his last day in the village, he went to the roof with Maya, just gazing at it with her. No matter what, the moon's presence in his life had always been a constant.

The moon watched him lose his mother... It watched him cry all alone in the darkness... It watched him fall in love… It watched him be killed... The moon also watched him coming back to life, and now it was watching him satisfy his hunger of revenge.

If the two stars signified him and his Numen, then the moon signified all his past and his present struggles.

He cut his finger a bit more, using another droplet of his blood to make the moon. However, he didn't make a full moon this time.

Right on top of the Formation Circle, he made a waxing crescent moon, signifying the darkness that was slowly swallowing the light of the moon.

Under the blood moon, he pressed his finger hard, making two blood dots, as if the dots were the tears of the moon that were falling over the two stars.

If there was anything personal to him, it was the bleeding moon and the stars. This was his personal sign!

As Gabriel made this sign, he didn't realize the significance of it. He didn't know how one day his sign was going to become a symbol of fear and terror…

As he finished making his own Numen binding symbol, the binding was completed.

Gabriel raised the sword, making some actions with it, swinging it around.

His feet also moved with every movement of the sword, as if he was performing a Sword dance. For some reason, after he finished binding the Sword of Ulien, he felt even more comfortable with it. The sword seemed sharper, and it seemed faster now.

Instead of being light like before, the sword was slightly heavier. But that additional weight only worked to make this sword even more balanced. With more weight behind it, the attacks of the sword came with much more force.

Moreover, even as he used the sword, he looked way more skillful with it. As soon as he bound the Sword to him, he had managed to understand the Numen even more, including the secret advantages of the sword that he hadn't known before. Along with the connection, he also gained the skills that used this sword.

After testing the Sword of Numen, Gabriel sent the sword back to his ring.

"How was it? Much better, right?" Cylix asked, expecting some excitement on Gabriel's face.

Unfortunately, Gabriel looked more grim than excited as he stared at his hand.

"Is there any problem?" Novius was also intrigued why he was so grim. "What are you thinking about?"

"Just wondering if I even have enough blood to bind all my Numens," Gabriel answered. It was a unique problem he had.

"Hahaha, just that?" Cylix burst into a healthy laughter, finding his problem to be non-existent. He was worried over nothing. "What's two or three droplets of blood? I don't think this should trouble you."

"It's not just two or three droplets." Gabriel knew just how many Numens he had. He needed to bind them all, but that was also going to take a lot of his blood.

"You take one or two drops of blood for each binding. If not two droplets for all your Numens, maybe ten drops?" Cylix guessed. "Not like you have tens of Numens lying in your storage space."

Gabriel didn't answer. He didn't remove their misunderstanding for now. He wasn't going to place all the Numens before them that he stole from their own Academy. He decided to do it one by one.

Instead of telling them how many Numens he actually had, Gabriel walked back to the seat. Even if it was going to take a bit more of his blood, he still wanted to bind all his Numens before leaving this place.

He had time as well since after leaving the city; he was sure that Lira was going to be waiting for him. He wanted to bind all the Numens to himself before leaving as he didn't plan on sharing any with anyone else. At least until he desired.

If binding a Numen made him understand just what that Numen was capable of, he wanted to don as many as he could before leaving.

He sat on the seat and called out the second Numen. A pitch black bracelet appeared in his hand, which was only one millimeter thick and three centimeters wide.

On the pitch black bracelet, there was a beautiful red gem right at the center of it.

So far, Gabriel had no idea just what this Numen was as he had been called by Eliana with Cain before they could be taught about other Numens. That's why, other than a few Numens, he was completely ignorant about most.

"That bracelet..."

Novius and Cylix didn't recognize that bracelet either. They could just feel that it was a Numen from its energy. However, there was one person who recognized this Numen.

He had seen that Numen once before as well, in the Museum of Academy of Elements. It was there by the time he had come to take part in the tower in his last year. It was surprising to see the same in Gabriel's hand.

"How do you have that Numen?" Izen asked, not keeping his curiosity to himself. "It should've been at the Academy of Elements."

Gabriel didn't respond. He just sliced his finger again and started making the symbol that was going to be known as the Symbol of the Necromancer throughout the world.

"You know that Numen?" Cylix was quite intrigued to hear that this Numen was kept safe at the Academy.

"I do. I've seen this Numen before in my time. It was kept in the Museum amongst all the other artifacts. That Bracelet is the Bracelet of Yerin, worn by Demigod Yerin," Yerin explained.

"You're quite right." Gabriel wore the bracelet in his right hand after he finished binding it. Unlike the sword, this artifact was an accessory that he could wear all the time.

"This is the same bracelet of Yerin that you saw in the Museum of Elements."

"Then how do you have it?" Cylix inquired.

"He robbed it; what else?" Novius smirked. He wasn't upset at the thought though. In fact, he was quite pleased. If Gabriel actually robbed the Academy, he was happy.

The Academy at present wasn't the same Academy that they left. It had been overtaken by a bunch of cowards who only went along with the masses. It was better that they didn't possess such things.

"No wonder he was so distressed when he knew that he had to use blood to bind all the artifacts," Novius finally understood Gabriel's worries. "So, tell me Gabriel. How many Treasures did you manage to steal?"

"All," Gabriel answered, stunning both Cylix and Novius. It was one thing to steal a few Numens, but stealing everything that the Academy possessed?

"Wait, not all. I don't have the Mirror of Tis that they use to measure someone's talent." After binding the third artifact, Gabriel sent it back in his ring before calling out the next.

"Also, I don't consider it stealing from the Academy."

"Then what do you consider it?" Cylix asked.

"How can it be stealing when I took something that doesn't belong to the Academy in the first place?" Gabriel asked in return. "Weren't you the ones who said that Numens without a mark of binding are ownerless?"

As he answered, he kept looking inside his Spatial Storage to find the next artifact to bind with his soul.

He wanted to bind a powerful item with him next, which could increase his strength even more. However, even he hadn't realized at the moment that he was right on the verge of taking a decision that could alter his life and this future forever in a direction he couldn't have reckoned...

"No one owned these things, not even the academy. And even if the Academy did own these artifacts, so what?" he asked the two Founders of the Academy.

"When we are killed just for our Elements, and the Academy even helps the killers, they don't deserve to hold these Artefacts. If they keep it, these Numens would just end up in the hands of my enemies if I don't take them right now."

"Before they can give it to others, it's much better for me to take them from their hands and reduce their burdens."

As Gabriel explained his thinking, he was looking inside his space, wondering which Numen to bind next. However, his eyes soon fell on a specific Numen, which made him intrigued. He really wondered if he could bind that item to himself as well? Was that even possible?

He looked at the item before bringing it out. Qin and Novius felt some affinity with the item as soon as it was called out, even if the item was wrapped in a piece of cloth.

"You said there was no restriction on what I could bind, right?" he asked before unwrapping that item. "I want to bind this to me. Is it possible?"

Even though Novius could feel the energy of the item, he was still surprised as he saw the item. When it was hard for them to come across even one Ancestral Staff, Gabriel was walking around with two?

Still, he was less surprised by what the item was and more by what Gabriel was suggesting to be done with it.

"Ancestral Staff of Darkness? You want to bind that to yourself?" Novius asked, quite stunned by the preposterous idea. "Do you even have the element of darkness?"

"My second Element does share some properties with Darkness. But I don't have a specific Element of Darkness control. Still, I want to bind this to me. Is it possible?"

Seeing what Gabriel wanted to attempt, even Cylix found the young man crazy. But he was an interesting kind of crazy. It was quite exciting to see a person like him. Even though the idea was crazy, it was still intriguing to think if it was even possible.

"Why do you want to bind another Ancestral Staff when you have your own Elemental Ancestral Staff?" he asked. "Moreover, don't you work with Lira? You can also give it to her, right? So why?"

"Have you ever been betrayed by your best friend?" Gabriel asked in response, staring at the alluring Ancestral Staff of Darkness.

Cylix and Novius looked at each other. They were each other's best friend, but they had never betrayed each other. They didn't even think about the possibility. Still, they both know just what an awful feeling it would be if one of them betrayed the other.

"When you are betrayed by your own, you become hesitant in trusting even your own Shadow with information that could harm you," Gabriel further continued. "And this Staff is more than just a tool that could be used to harm me."

Gabriel came here to get the Ancestral Staff of Darkness for Lira, but he wasn't intending to give it to her just yet.

" I told you before... I work with her, but we aren't friends," he repeated. "And I don't trust her to the extent of giving her this Ancestral Staff without any failsafe to protect me,"

Even at the start before coming here, he was still thinking if he should give her the Ancestral Staff or not. He knew that she could betray him after getting the Ancestral Staff, even though the chances of that were very small. Even with that small possibility, he wasn't going to take the risk.

"After binding the Staff to myself, I'll give it to her to use it. However, then, she won't be able to use the Ancestral Staff to betray me. That will be my failsafe."

Even though he felt that Lira wasn't going to betray her only ally, he had had enough of trusting others. He wasn't going to take the risk as he was still weaker than her for now.

If he could bind the staff to himself, then even Lira shouldn't be able to control her Ancestral Staff without his permission. With that, if Lira ever tried to attack him, he could just take away that staff, which could weaken Lira more, giving him an advantage against her.

According to him, this could be his failsafe. The only problem was that this was an Ancestral Staff of Darkness, so trying to bind it was going to be quite hard, especially since he didn't have the Element of Darkness himself.

"Can I do it?" he asked the two friends on the main throne. He didn't know if something like this was ever attempted before, but from their expressions, the answer was most likely a no.

"Honestly, I don't think I've ever heard anything like this. No one even tried to do it in our time," Cylix answered before turning to Izen. "Did you hear about something like this?"

"Never." Izen also shook his head. It was also his first time hearing something like this. This was definitely a crazy attempt that no one had tried before. Honestly, no one ever needed to attempt it either.

"I think technically, it should be possible. However, it's definitely not easy at all." Novius also didn't know if it could be done or not, but he knew that it was possible. "Are you sure you want to try it?"

The Ancestral Staffs were also similar to Numens, even though they were more powerful than other Numens. As for the Holy Grimoires, they were in a different league of their own.

"The Ancestral Staffs do have a Soul of their own as well, but their souls are connected to their respective Grimoires. So if you try to bind it, you won't just be fighting the Soul of the Ancestral Staff. You'll also be going against the Holy Grimoire of Darkness," Novius reminded Gabriel just how hard this was.

"In other words, it can just as easily become a battle between your Grimoire and the Grimoire of Darkness. Normally, with that kind of battle, I would think your chances of success were nil. However, you do have some advantages," Cylix explained. "It's definitely a crazy idea, but it is ever going to be possible; it's right here."

"The different space on this Floor weakens a Numen. As you saw before, ordinary Numens don't even work here. As for something like Ancestral Staff, it would be weakened a lot. Moreover, the distance of this staff from the owner of the staff is quite a lot as well."

"Taking all that into consideration, I would say you have a ten percent chance of success. It's still very low, but much better than it would be outside when the Ancestral Staff isn't restricted. So do you want to take the risk?"

Cylix gazed at Gabriel with curiosity, wondering if he was going to accept. The chances weren't in his favor, and there were too many risks since his soul could seriously be hurt in this. However, if anyone could do this, Cylix believed it was Gabriel.

"I think you shouldn't do this. Even with a weakened Ancestral Staff of Darkness, the burden on your soul would be quite harsh. Even with the backing of your Grimoire, your soul will be the weak link of this entire process. You might see if you seriously get hurt."

Unlike Cylix, Novius tried to talk Gabriel out of this idea since he didn't want Gabriel to take this risk. Moreover, he knew that this could create a wall between Gabriel and Lira which he didn't want. He wanted Gabriel and Lira to work together.

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Unfortunately for him, Gabriel had made up his mind. He needed Lira's help. However, he wanted to be able to protect himself against her as well. This was the only option.

He bit his finger, making it bleed...

Gabriel bit his fingers, ignoring the suggestion given to him by Novius. Even though it was risky, he was fully prepared to attempt what was supposed to be impossible.

A blood droplet fell on the Ancestral Staff of Darkness that was lying on the ground, unmoving.

As soon as Gabriel's blood touched the Staff of Darkness, it evaporated instantly. It didn't stay on the Ancestral Staff for even a second before disappearing, as if the Staff didn't allow his blood to be there. Not only did the blood burn, but Gabriel also felt a bit hurt at the same time.

He didn't know why but as soon as his blood touched the Ancestral Staff of Darkness, his hand felt a burning sensation, even though it wasn't touching the Ancestral Staff of Darkness.

"One drop won't be enough for a treasure like the staff," Cylix reminded Gabriel, who was staring at his hand after that burning sensation. His hand was still looking fine.

Gabriel placed his bleeding finger on the Ancestral Staff of Darkness directly this time.

"Urgh!"

As his finger landed on the Ancestral Staff of Darkness, he felt as if he had placed his finger on molten lava. The pain was just so much that subconsciously, he would've already taken off his finger if he wasn't making a conscious effort in forcing it there.

Unfortunately, this wasn't just a burning sensation like before this time. His finger's skin was actually being burned. For Gabriel, a single second here felt like an eternity before this pain.

Despite all the problems, he kept his finger hard pressed on the staff as he started carving the binding symbol on the Ancestral Staff.

Other than the resistance and the pain of being burned, he didn't face much trouble, thanks to which he was able to finish carving the binding formation successfully, but that was just the initial part. Just carving the binding formation wasn't enough. It needed to succeed as well.

As soon as he finished the formation, he retracted his hand, observing his burned skin.

"Minor Heal."

He cast a Minor Heal on his finger to give some relief in the pain. Unfortunately, the Minor Heal didn't work for a wound like this.

Even though he could see his finger bones through the burnt flesh, the healing didn't heal his skin as if this wound was too much for it.

It was also somewhat because it was his right hand that was burned. His Mark of Death was also in his right hand, which decreased the influence of other elemental spells around it, especially the element of Light.

The pain was hard to deal with, but more than that, Gabriel was concerned about the Ancestral Staff of Darkness. His blood was still on the staff, but the trail of his blood on his mark was slimming down. Even after all this, the binding hadn't even started taking effect.

"Is it really not possible?" Gabriel muttered, noticing his Blood Mark almost on the verge of disappearing.

"Hmm?"

It was as if Gabriel had already given in when he noticed something different. The blood had donated stopped deteriorating just when the spell was on the verge of being destroyed, being held by a small thread.

The Ancestral Staff of Darkness started shaking on the ground as his blood finally started taking effect.

Gabriel had used more blood on the Ancestral Staff of Darkness than he did on any other Numen, and finally, it looked like something was happening.

The Blood formation that he cast on the Ancestral Staff started shining as the spell finally decided to attempt the binding to Gabriel.

Cylix straightened up. Finally, something was happening. He looked at the Ancestral Staff of Darkness getting down from his throne. He wanted to look from closer.

Novius also followed behind. The two moved within five-meter range of the Ancestral Staff of Darkness, coming close but not too close.

As the symbol on the Ancestral Staff started shining, Gabriel felt his head beginning to thump as if someone was hitting his head again and again with a hammer.

He also felt like all his strength was being sucked down by the Mark of Binding in an attempt to keep the Staff in Control until the binding was successful.

With time, Gabriel weakened more and more until he felt no different than he did after Axion's battle. The burden on his soul was too much, similar to when he used a high-tier spell before.

The only difference was that at least the high-tier spell was successful, even though it harmed him. But this Mark of Binding? Even now, it hasn't succeeded. The mark of binding was still shining, trying to gather more and more strength.

The Ancestral Staff of Darkness also didn't stop resisting. Its shaking intensified only. Even though it was in a different space, the Ancestral Staff of Darkness was still connected to the Holy Grimoire of Darkness.

Lira was in the forest, wondering if she should send someone else inside the Lumen City to find out what happened inside the city with Gabriel, when she felt her Holy Grimoire coming out to its real form.

The Holy Grimoire opened on its own; without any command from Lira, the pages of the Holy Grimoire started flipping on their own, turning from one blank page to the other.

"What is happening?" Lira wondered, confused. Even she hadn't seen something like this happen before. She failed to understand what was happening. Why was her Ancestral Grimoire getting so impatient?

The Holy Grimoire of Darkness stopped on the middle page, which was completely empty at the moment.

Some words started appearing on the page.

Lira read those words, only to be stunned.

The Ancestral Staff of Darkness kept resisting to Gabriel, even as the binding formation tried to tie it.

Gabriel was already feeling very weak after having to use so much energy to control the Ancestral Staff of Darkness, and his Grimoire wasn't helping him either. It was as if it was his Grimoire's way of telling him that he had to do it himself.

The Ancestral Staff of Darkness also started shining as a mysterious black energy surrounded the Ancestral Staff. The dark energy soon exploded, spreading all over the floor, making everything pitch black.

In the Darkness, only Novius and Qin were able to see as they were Mages of Darkness who could see in this darkness as well.

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Both of them saw Gabriel closing his eyes as soon as the dark energy spread out. It was unclear if it was from weakness or from something else, but Gabriel lost his consciousness.

The Darkness that had spread all around also disappeared as soon as Gabriel lost consciousness. The darkness disappeared, revealing the Ancestral Staff of Darkness. The binding formation was still there, but it was even weaker as its shine was decreasing with time

The Ancestral Staff also stopped shaking.

"It looks like he failed," Cylix commented, walking closer to Gabriel. He placed his hand on Gabriel's head, letting out a sigh. "It was indeed too much for him."

"Of course it was." Novius agreed. "Even a Holy Mage shouldn't be able to control an Ancestral Staff of other Elements. It's just the law of Nature. Even though it should be possible, it will be harder than swimming across the entire ocean without using any spell."

The light of the Binding Spell kept going down, but right when it was on the verge of disappearing, it stopped. Sometimes the blood formation stopped shining entirely, and sometimes it again started shining. It was unclear what was happening, but something wasn't right.

The formation wasn't succeeding, but it wasn't failing either. It was still stuck in some limbo, flickering.

"It's not disappearing?" Cylix exclaimed, slightly surprised.

He didn't understand how it was possible. If Gabriel was unconscious, there was no way this blood formation wasn't going to disappear. However, if he wasn't unconscious, then what?

As soon as the darkness spread everywhere, Gabriel felt his vision turning dark. His body was already very weak, but as the darkness hit his body, he felt even worse.

He didn't know what had happened, but it was as if he had lost control of his body. He couldn't even feel his body at the moment.

The silence and the darkness disappeared within a few seconds on the outside, but for Gabriel, this Darkness was Eternal as he couldn't feel or see anything. It was like he was blind as well.

After what seemed like an eternity, the darkness started retreating, and he started regaining his vision.

It was still dark around him, but it was the darkness of night. It wasn't the blinding darkness that made him unable to see anything. Here, he could see most of the things.

There was a night sky above his head. He couldn't see any moon above him though.

He was standing on what seemed like grass, but the grass was pitch black.

"Another dream?" Gabriel muttered. He only had one way to see if he was in a dream or not. In his strange Dreams, he only had the Element of Necromancy. However, in real life, he had two elements.

He looked at the back of his left hand.

"The Mark of Light is still there... So it's not one of the weird dreams I've been having recently. But what then? Where am I?"

"You are in my Realm of Darkness," a Voice came from the back, making Gabriel turn around.

"Lira?" Gabriel gazed back, noticing the young woman he had met before.

"When I came to know that someone was trying to bind the Ancestral Staff which belonged to me, I wondered who it could be. But it's you… I didn't expect it, honestly."

Lira looked at Gabriel in slight disgust. She had sent him there to bring the staff to her, and he was trying to steal the staff for himself. If she hadn't found out about it, she never would've known.

"Your Realm of Darkness? What is this place, and why did you bring me here?"

Gabriel didn't answer her question. Instead, he asked a question of his own. First, he needed to find out what this place was before doing anything.

Moreover, it wasn't as if he expected Lira to know before he succeeded. He thought it was only his battle against the staff and the Grimoire, not Lira as well.

"It's the Realm of Darkness where you'll be spending the rest of your life," Lira answered. "For your sins of trying to steal what belonged to me, this shall be your punishment."

Gabriel frowned as soon as he heard her words. Just what did she mean this was his punishment? It looked like one of her spells, but she shouldn't have been able to cast it on him. And even if she did, he should've been protected in a different realm.

"How did you manage to bring me here?" he asked. To know how to get out of here, he needed to know how he came here in the first place.

"You came here because of yourself. You tried to control my staff, which weakened your soul in return. And through the same staff, my Grimoire brought that weakened soul inside this realm which will be your permanent home," Lira responded. "This is your punishment for betrayal."

"There was no betrayal. I was still going to give the Ancestral Staff of Darkness to you after controlling it to some extent," Gabriel responded, which wasn't a lie at all. He actually was going to give the Staff to Lira after he succeeded.

In other words, he actually hadn't betrayed her. He was supposed to bring the Ancestral Staff to her, and he was doing it. There was no mention that he wasn't allowed to bind the Staff to himself. How could it be betrayal when he wasn't harming her or doing anything similar? He was just creating a safety mechanism for himself.

"Keep your lies to yourself." Lira refused to believe Gabriel, and even if she could, she wasn't going to let him leave after all this.

"You have two options now, and none of them involve you leaving this place. The first option is you tell me where my Staff is at the moment. If you take that option, you'll only be imprisoned here.

"The second option is that you keep your silence, but that won't be a good option for you, as I'll destroy your soul right here in that instance. You were already weaker than me before, but now you're in the Realm of Darkness, where I'm even stronger. So I would advise you to take the first option."

Even though Lira gave Gabriel two options, none of them were good for him as no way in hell was he going to stay here.

"So, what option do you choose?" Lira asked Gabriel. Even though she gave Gabriel two options, she believed he could only take the first option.

"I shall choose the third option," Gabriel expressed, making Lira frown. Since none of the options were to his liking, he decided on an option of his own.

Moreover, now he was really glad that he didn't have the staff to Lira in the first place. If she could trap him here now, it would've only been worse in the future if she had the Ancestral Staff.

Lira was taken aback. There was supposed to be no third option. What did he mean by that?

"There is no third option for you. At least until I decide to give you a third option," Lira reminded Gabriel. "Don't forget. You are in my Domain. Here, I am the only god."

"So tell me. Where is my Ancestral Staff of Darkness?" she asked, asked.

From her expressions, it was evident that she was quite upset with Gabriel. Even though Gabriel had a reason of his own for trying to bind the Ancestral Staff of Darkness to him, for her, it was no less than him trying to steal something from her, which she had been after for a long time.

Lira couldn't believe it! She picked up Gabriel when he was nothing! She was the one who taught him most of the things about this world. She was also the one who took him to Lombard. It was because of her that this naive kid even knew about Numens in the first place!

"I did so much for you! Without me, you would've been completely ignorant about the working of this world. You would've been captured by the Church of Light within one week. It's because of me you're still alive! And you dared to steal from me?"

What hurt Lira even more was that she genuinely didn't see it coming. Even initially, when she helped Gabriel, she looked at him as a helper. Even though Gabriel talked about being equal, for her, he was too weak. He wasn't worth being her equal since he was only a Novice Mage when she was already an advanced mage.

Even with them both having a Grimoire, his actual strength was too weak. For her, he was like a subordinate who owed his life to her! He was supposed to help her, no matter what! And even that weak subordinate dared to cheat her?

"Lira," Gabriel could see that Lira was quite upset, but he also felt that she was talking to him like he was lower than her. And it didn't seem like she considered him weaker in strength only.

"Listen to me. Let me leave. I'm not going to keep your Ancestral Staff. I am going to give it to you in the end," Gabriel explained, trying to maintain his calm.

"In the end, the staff was going to be returned to you. It is just a safety mechanism. After I bind the Ancestral Staff of Darkness, I'll give it to you to use it. It's not as if I can use the Ancestral Staff of Darkness without an Element of Darkness in any case, can I?"

Gabriel genuinely had no use of the Ancestral Staff of Darkness. He didn't own any spells of the Element of Darkness that he needed to amplify, so it was just an ordinary piece of stick for him.

It only became a useful magical staff in the hands of Lira, so what greed could he have in controlling the Ancestral Staff of Darkness? The only benefit that came with it was that he could prevent Lira from using that staff to attack him. That was all.

"Gabriel, I won't repeat myself. Tell me where the staff is?!"

"Even if I tell you, you think you can get to it?" Gabriel scoffed. If she wasn't going to listen to the voice of reasoning, he was going to tell her in a language that she understood... The language of threats that she was using.

"As you gave me two options, let me give you two as well!" Gabriel let out. If threats worked, he had better threats. The worst Lira could do was keep him here until he escaped, thanks to his High Tier spell.

On the contrary, Lira had much more to lose if she didn't get the Ancestral Staff of Darkness which was her dream. Not only were the Churches going to be on her trail without resting, but Lambard also wasn't going to help her. She had no choice but to give in if she actually wanted to avoid the worst.

"Either you let me leave this place, and I'll bring the Ancestral Staff to you after I'm done with it, or you keep me here. But in the latter case, you're never going to find the Ancestral Staff even if I tell you where it is!"

"You are threatening me?" Lira laughed in anger. "You! A kid! You think you can threaten me when you're in my domain?"

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The group of two, which initially looked like it was a group of partners that were going to be together in the goal of reestablishing the Church of Darkness, was now falling apart.

Lira flicked her fingers. Following her movement, it was as if a mysterious power was acting up on Gabriel, which sent his body flying in the distance.

The mysterious force of darkness didn't just send Gabriel flying, but it also left thousands of wounds all over Gabriel's soul! He felt each of those wounds.

The wounds of the body were painful, but the wounds of the soul? They were even more painful as they even made Gabriel groan in pain.

Gabriel landed in the distance. There was no blood around him as these were the wounds of the soul, but each of those wounds was worse than a thousand physical cuts.

Gabriel couldn't even stand up as another attack came in his direction from the other side, sending his body flying again.

More cuts appeared over his body as he roared in pain. His body landed on the dark floor.

"Why are you yelling?" Lira asked, acting as if she had no idea why Gabriel had roared.

Gabriel's soul was seriously hurt as the darkness was hurting his soul, and he couldn't do anything. He had tried casting his spells when he was first attacked, but he realized that he was unable to cast his spells here for some reason.

"This is just the beginning, and you're already on the verge of breaking?" Lira asked, stepping closer to Gabriel.

With each step she took toward Gabriel, Gabriel felt as if more and more weight was acting up on his body, keeping him pressed down.

There was a forest not too far from the Royal Lumen City. At the moment, there was only one person inside the woods, and even that person was surrounded by a dark barrier that protected that person.

Inside those barriers, there was a young woman who was sitting with her back against the tree. The woman had her eyes closed and even looked like she was sleeping. However, there was a deep down on her face and a really fierce aura.

Fortunately, her aura was kept inside the barrier so the ones outside couldn't sense him.

There was a black book floating before the woman, covered in an even darker aura. The middle page of the cool was open, which had many things written on it, but there were three words on the top of the page, which were larger in size than the others.

[Dark Soul Prison]

Lira stopped when she was barely three meters away from Gabriel, who was on the ground. He felt as if thousands of pins were pressing down on him. Whenever he tried to get up, the dark pins only stabbed his soul deeper.

"Lira!" Gabriel clenched his teeth.

"What? Don't tell me you're going to ask me to forgive you or let you leave. If yes, you should save your words. Only open your mouth if it's to tell me where my Ancestral Staff is. I'll find someone else to bring it to me!"

"His aura... It's getting weaker!" Novius sat before Gabriel with his hands on the young man's forehead.

He could feel that Gabriel was getting even weaker, and his heartbeat was slowing down. It was a really strange phenomenon that even he hadn't seen before.

Even Cylix didn't understand why it was happening. Even if Gabriel failed in binding the Ancestral Staff, he shouldn't be like this.

Moreover, the binding hadn't failed either. The binding formation was shining at regular intervals, even though weakly.

"He isn't unconscious, that's for sure," Novius commented. "That means his consciousness is still up. But then, why isn't he up?"

Novius knew a Holy Priest of Darkness in his time, but even then, he didn't know about a spell similar to this. Then again, no one attempted to bind an Ancestral Staff of Another element.

Cyclix took Gabriel's left hand, sensing something. "It's not just his aura which is weakening, but also his life force! Whatever effect he is under, if he isn't out of it soon, we might lose him forever!"

"Gabriel, don't try to be brave. Tell me where you kept the Ancestral Staff of Darkness inside the city?! I promise I'll go easy on you if you tell me," Lira told Gabriel, sitting on her knees before him.

Through all the pain, Gabriel could barely focus on whatever she was saying.

,m "I told you, only I can bring it out! Let alone any men you command to do it; even you yourself can't get to it! Especially now that the Academy is more secure since the theft happened!"

"You can't do anything without me! You might act strong like you're in control, but you're mistaken. I'm in control of the situation. You need my help; I don't!" Gabriel remained firm. Even now, there was not a single shred of pain on his face, despite all the pain he was in.

The only time he was under fear of death was when he was killed by Hawrin for the first time. Even before this pain, he didn't fear. If anything, he was more angry than scared.

"You think you can come back to life after I kill you here, don't you?" Lira scoffed, understanding why Gabriel was still so confident. "You couldn't be more wrong. Last time, your body was hurt, and your Grimoire managed to save you. But this time?"

"This time, just not your body which will die! It will be your soul. And once your soul is destroyed, even your Grimoire can't bring you back to life." Lira placed her cold hands on Gabriel's cheeks, smiling. "Now you feel scared?"

"Is that it?" Gabriel asked in return. "That's the threat? Go ahead. Kill me. But you'll be joining me soon after. Don't worry."

"What do you mean?" Lira was somewhat surprised. What did he mean that she was going to follow him into death?

She didn't know if he was bluffing or not, but was there any spell from his Grimoire which made it so that whoever destroyed his soul died with him? Even though she had never heard about such a spell, she didn't know about the existence of this element either, so what was a spell?

"Even in your last moments, you are trying to fool me, little boy?" She stood up. "If that's the way you want to play it, then sure. I won't kill you, but I'll give you a pain that will make you wish you were dead."

Even though Lira believes that Gabriel was bluffing, she didn't want to take the risk. There was a small chance that there could actually be a spell like that, as Gabriel's element was related to death.

Just to be safe, she decided not to kill him. In any case, she could just keep his soul imprisoned here. As long as Gabriel's consciousness was here, even his Grimoire couldn't connect to him to free him.

This wasn't a different space. This wasn't in the real world either. This was a proper domain that was inside her own Grimoire!

Gabriel's consciousness was trapped inside the Grimoire of Darkness. Moreover, since his Soul Strength wasn't high enough, his own Grimoire couldn't locate him.

His main body was in the tower of Challenges, which was a different realm. It was supposed to work in his favor taking advantage of the weakened connection between the Ancestral Staff of Darkness and the Grimoire of Darkness.

However, that same distance and separate realm was now working against him in this situation, keeping him separate from his Grimoire.

At any cost, he needed to find a way to be located by his Grimoire if he wanted to use any spells or take help."

Gabriel's consciousness was trapped inside the Realm of Darkness, unable to use his Element. Even though his control over his Grimoire had improved a lot throughout the last few days, it was still not enough for him to be able to call his Grimoire here.

He was lying on the ground, with a dark force acting over him. His hands were before him, having both the elemental marks. The only difference was that his black ring wasn't here.

Even though he wasn't bleeding at the moment, that was only because he wasn't here in his spiritual form. If he were here with his real body, he would've been covered in blood.

"One last time, I'm asking you! Gabriel, don't be stubborn! Tell me where the Ancestral Staff of Darkness is and I might take mercy on you and not hurt you too much!"

"I suppose your mercy doesn't include letting me leave this place?" Gabriel asked as he still kept resisting the dark force acting up on him.

"I'm afraid you aren't that lucky anymore. If you had brought me the Staff without trying to betray me, this wouldn't have to be done. But you... I can't forgive betrayal."

Lira was quite similar to Gabriel in that regard, as he hated being betrayed. Even when she was with Gabriel, the villagers broke a promise they made to her, which made her destroy the entire village in anger.

Even Lambard knew what kind of personality Lira had. She never forgot a betrayal, let alone one she received from someone whom she taught so much.

It was a situation where both were wrong, yet both were right at the same time. Lira had trusted Gabriel to bring the staff back, even though she considered him beneath her. She trusted him, and by trying to control the Staff that he was sent to retrieve, she believed Gabriel betrayed her trust.

At the same time, Gabriel also wasn't wrong in his place. He was going to give the staff to Lira like he promised. He just wanted one safety mechanism before he did that. He didn't consider trying to protect himself as a betrayal. No matter what, he couldn't have blindly trusted Lira.

If she wasn't going to let him leave, then negotiating with her wasn't worth it for Gabriel. For him, the pain was much better than a lifetime of imprisonment.

He forced his body up, even as he felt like he was being stabbed by thousands of ice-cold metal spikes.

Seeing Gabriel still trying to defy her, Lira has had enough.

"That's it. If you want to defy me so much, I'll show you what happens to the ones who do that. I'll make sure to break your mind and soul, and I'm going to enjoy it now!"

Lira stomped on Gabriel's hand, which had the mark of Death. Lira was usually not very heavy, but in this place, even her stomp felt like a weight of thousands of tons was behind that stomp.

"Arghh!" Gabriel roared. It was as if all the bones in his right hand were broken under the stomp, which was a pain he felt all through his body.

"Lira, I will kill you!" he roared as he used the pain to force his body to. Since his soul was already under the pain, what was more pain of being stabbed in his back by thousands of needles? The only problem was the heavy weight that was keeping him pressed down.

"Arghh!"

Since he couldn't get under the heavy weight, he only had one open. He pulled his hand back and rolled to the side until he was out of the heavy pressure before standing up.

Unfortunately, once again, a mysterious force tossed him back. In Lira's domain, Gabriel's soul was like a toy for Lira, especially since he couldn't use his strength.

[A few hours ago]

"Dark Soul Prison?" A new spell had appeared in Lira's holy Grimoire, which she never saw before. Moreover, it was the peak of High Tier spells. Even she was stunned to know what this spell could do.

According to her description, this spell could only be cast when certain conditions were met.

As for the condition, it stunned Lira even more. According to the spell description, it could only be used when someone was trying to bind her Ancestral Staff. It made the uses of this spell very limited, but it was also very important as it worked to protect her Ancestral Staff from someone else's control.

She also managed to find out that someone was trying to take control of her Ancestral Staff. Initially, she didn't know who it could be, but whenever it was, she needed to stop them at any cost!"

It wasn't until she cast the spell and entered the Dark Soul Prison that she realized it was Gabriel who was doing it!

[Present time]

"I must say, even I didn't expect you to be this stupid! You really thought you could control my staff? MY STAFF?"

Gabriel's body fell around twenty meters away from Lira on the ground.

"You will regret the moment you decided to go against me, young one!" Lira made a circle in the air with her hand. The dark energy around Gabriel only intensified following her graceful gesture.

The dark energy didn't attack Gabriel this time. Instead, Gabriel felt as if some kind of shackles had wrapped themselves around his ankles and his wrist.

The mysterious dark energy didn't press his body to the ground. Instead, it made his body start rising in the air.

Gabriel's hands were spread as he was raised in the air, shackled by the dark energy. The dark energy kept him in place, making him unable to move.

It was like he really was a prisoner here.

Lira walked closer to Gabriel, taking slow yet firm steps. "Don't worry. I won't ask you to tell me where my staff is. Instead, you'll tell me yourself! You'll be begging to tell me! At this point, I really hope you don't break too soon!"

"You thought what happened before was painful?" she asked, stopping merely a few inches away from Gabriel as his body floated at a height where his eyes were at the level of her eyes.

The shackles and the dark energy were holding him so firmly on the ground that no matter what he tried, he couldn't move.

Lira looked into the angry yet deep eyes of Gabriel as her cold hands gently touched his cheeks. "What happened before was just warmup, little one. It's only now that you'll realize what true pain actually means…."

At the moment, two of the strongest beings of their times were sitting before Gabriel, worrying about his safety. It had been a long time since Gabriel dropped to the ground. He hadn't woken up ever since.

Both Cylix and Novius knew that they needed to do something about it, but what could they even do? There was nothing that was in their control when it came to Gabriel's subconscious.

The Infernal King had also tried to use his flames to purify Gabriel's body from any toxic substance that could be inside his body, keeping him down. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case here either. Even his flames couldn't help Gabriel.

The situation was really chaotic. Inside the Temple, people were waiting for the return of Gabriel's consciousness, while outside the tower, the entire academy forces were waiting for Gabriel's return so they could capture him.

Just one entrance inside the tower changed everything from Gabriel. He was the star of the Academy, and many Teachers cared for him since he had the potential of being their star disciple. Lambard was also happy at him for recovering the treasures, and Lira was also not an enemy.

However, all it took was this tower, and everything changed. Now Lambard was quite upset at him. As for the Head Council Member, they wanted to capture him and possibly kill him. Even Lira wanted to hurt him.

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All the ones who were tilting to his side before were now against him, leaving him all alone. However, Cylix and Novius, whom he considered an enemy on the ninety-ninth floor that he had to defeat, were now caring for him.

His companions became his worst enemies, and his supposed enemies turned into his guardian. The human emotions were really fickle, changing at a moment's notice.

While so many people were waiting for him, Gabriel was still trapped in the shackles created by Lira.

Lira retracted her hand before taking a step back, creating half a meter of distance between the two.

'Come on! Let me cast one spell!' Gabriel had his fists clenched as he tried to force his elements to listen to him. Unfortunately, the elements were unresponsive. He couldn't even feel his elements in this place.

There were no natural energies in this place that could be used to cast a spell. There was only the element of darkness here which he had no affinity with.

Darkness started intensifying around Lira's hand, condensing. The darkness started taking a solid shape as that of a light sword that was one meter long and only five centimeters wide.

The sword was made purely of darkness which could be felt even by Gabriel.

Lira hadn't even brought the sword closer to him, and he could still feel the pressure and slight pain.

"You know what the biggest advantage of you being here in your Soul Form is for me?" Lira asked Gabriel; however, she didn't even wait for an answer. She answered herself. "It's that whatever pain I inflict on you here, you'll feel it a thousandfold since it's hurting your soul directly!"

"You're right. The pain is certainly fun. I'll make sure to have you experience it as well," Gabriel sarcastically answered.

"I don't think you can. For that, you have to leave this place first, which you never will. As long as you're here, I'm your goddess, and you're a traitor waiting for his punishment," Lira responded.

Even though there was a calm smile on her face, her eyes were filled with rage and anger, showing her real emotions.

"Let me ask you another question before you're in no condition to speak." she continued, seemingly not in any hurry, as if she wanted to take her sweet time. "You know what the biggest disadvantage of you being here in your Soul Form is for me?"

This time, Gabriel didn't let her answer her own question. He answered, "Is it that you can't watch me bleed?"

There were genuinely no disadvantages for Lira here that he could think of. He was weaker here and felt more pain. The only other difference he could think of was that he didn't bleed.

"Surprisingly, you're right." Lira was genuinely surprised to see Gabriel guess correctly. "If you could bleed, this next part would've been fun."

As soon as she finished speaking, she raised her sword and brought it down with great force, striking Gabriel's left arm.

The dark sword sliced through Gabriel's left arm, completely detaching it from his shoulder. Gabriel had already felt a lot of pain of his soul being hurt, but it was the first time a part of his soul was actually cut, and the pain was unbearable.

"Arghhh!"

Even Gabriel couldn't control his scream as he felt like he had died a thousand deaths in that one moment.

"I told you I'll let you experience true pain, right? This is just the beginning!" Lira coldly stated.

"These are the hands with which you tried to take my Ancestral Staff, didn't you? Let me take these hands so you can never do that again!"

She raised her dark sword once again, bringing it down.

However, just as her Sword was about to touch Gabriel's right arm, Gabriel's screaming stopped. The surroundings turned awfully silent.

Lira's sword also stopped in her place, barely a few inches away from Gabriel's arms. Her sword had frozen in place as if some power was holding it in its place... A Power that could overcome even the Darkness in the Realm of Darkness.

The mark of death which was on the back of Gabriel's hands, also started shining. It shone as bright as it never did.

"How? How is this possible? How can you use your Element here?!" Lira's complete attention was on Gabriel's hands. It was only when she saw her mark of Death and Necromancy shine that she raised her gaze in shock.

Unfortunately, as her gaze fell on Gabriel's face, her shock only increased. Gabriel's face was expressionless, and his eyes were completely emotionless.

His eyes, which were their usual color before, were slightly darker now. However, the strangest part was the strange symbol that had appeared on Gabriel's forehead.

The Symbol on his forehead was quite similar to the symbol on the back of his right hand, but it was also quite different.

The dark shackles that were keeping Gabriel captured in place started retreating slowly. His body slowly floated down, landing back on the ground, right before Lira.

Other than landing on the ground, Gabriel hadn't made a single movement... Yet.

For some reason, Lira could also see something that should've been impossible! Gabriel... He was in his spiritual form here, yet she could see blood! Tears of dark red blood were trickling down his cheeks, coming from his eyes.

Pain... Terrifying pain... The pain of having their arm being sliced off when a person was in their spiritual form was something that could break anyone in the world as it was like an important part of their soul was cut.

This was the pain that even Gabriel had never felt before. He had been hurt many times in his life, including his soul being hurt in the dark realm, but this pain was just too much, even for him.

His mind couldn't take it anymore as the pain overwhelmed his mind, bringing him to the edge of breaking apart. It was as if the pain Lira inflicted wasn't enough; she tried to slice his other hand as well to teach him a lesson.

That was it... That was the moment when Gabriel found himself helpless. It was similar to what happened to him when Hawrin killed him. He was similarly tied and killed. His thoughts were too clouded, thanks to the pain that was almost on the verge of breaking apart his consciousness.

Even though the pain now was a million times worse than that, it was still like the history was repeating itself, completing a cycle. He was back where he started, trapped and unable to use any spells as a mage was close to killing him.

This time, the pain and the overlapping of memories were too much for him. Gabriel didn't realize when it happened, but it was as if his mind shut down on its own to safeguard his consciousness from the pain.

It was as if his consciousness knew just what could happen if another similar attack was inflicted on him. His mind was going to break…

To protect him, it was like a safety mechanism was activated, which protected his consciousness by making him go to sleep. A strangely familiar yet different mark appeared on the forehead of Gabriel's soul as his consciousness went to the safety of sleep. At the same time, his subconscious took over…

The World was vast, encompassing millions of unknowns. There were so many secrets in the world that no one had any idea about them. There were many incredulous myths and lores in the world that could neither be confirmed nor denied.

However, if there was one thing that everyone in the world could agree on, it was that a soul never bled!

It was something that was supposed to be an undeniable fact that even Lira believed until recently. However, all her beliefs were tossed aside as she saw Gabriel's soul bleed.

What was even more surprising was that the blood wasn't coming from any of the wounds that she had dealt to him. Instead, the blood was coming from his eyes as if they were tears of Blood.

As if a soul bleeding wasn't shocking enough on its own, what made Lira even more taken aback was that her dark shackles that were keeping Gabriel hostage retreated on their own, as if even her darkness didn't dare to get close to him.

The surrounding of Gabriel was still dark; however, for some reason, it wasn't her darkness that was surrounding him. It was something else... Something much darker... Something much worse.

The tear of blood kept trickling down his expressionless face as Gabriel looked at Lira with lifeless eyes.

The tear of blood kept trickling down until it finally fell to the ground.

In the realm, which was only filled with darkness, a red droplet fell on the floor. However, as soon as that droplet touched the ground, everything changed.

A mighty aura spread out as if an explosion of Gabriel's true aura was released... Even if it was just a fraction of it. The aura was so powerful that even though it was Lira's realm of darkness, the wave of aura sent her flying back like a doll.

Even though it was just Gabriel's aura, Lira was horrified for a moment. He hadn't even touched her, and it was just her aura, yet her soul was damaged so badly just by coming in contact with his aura.

It was her Domain! She should've been invincible here, then how was Gabriel able to do it? Just what was happening to him?

As soon as the aura spread out, it wasn't just Lira who was hurt. All the darkness that was spread throughout the realm of darkness turned blood red as if a blood red mist was surrounding them all.

Through her darkness, Lira could see everything, but this dark red mist made it impossible for her to see anything. She also couldn't use the darkness of the realm for some reason. It was as if her Realm of Darkness was taken over by someone!

The aura from a single droplet of blood wasn't something that was felt in the Realm of Darkness either.

It was an aura that was somehow felt through the entire World.

Novius and Cylix were really worried for Gabriel. They still couldn't understand what had happened to him, but his condition was definitely not good.

There was also a moment when his condition was so bad that they thought he could die within seconds. However, fortunately, after that movement, his condition started recovering.

Just as they sighed in relief, a wave of terrifying energy came from Gabriel's body as the same Mark appeared on his forehead, which was on his soul.

The connection between his soul and his body was once again established, and the Grimoire of Necromancy could finally sense Gabriel again, reaching him!

Even though the Forbidden Book of Necromancy was happy sensing this aura, there were others who were hurt.

Both Novius and Cylix were sent flying by the powerful aura. Both of them crashed on the wall in the back. The other youngsters in the hall weren't safe either, as the aura also attacked them.

Even the Infernal King was sent flying by the aura explosion. He was also the only one who had a real body, which was why he was also hurt the worst as he started bleeding.

Unlike the dark aura from before, this aura didn't seem to be affected by the difference in space. It didn't weaken as it passed through one realm of the tower to another.

As the aura left the tower, it still had the same old intensity as it had when it hit Lira in the realm of Darkness.

All the Head Council Members were still guarding the tower from outside, so no one could leave their tower without them knowing. They had activated all the defense mechanisms in wait for Gabriel, but even they didn't see that aura coming toward them.

A mysterious aura rushed out of the tower, moving at incredible speed. It was as if it was a storm of an aura that the Head Council Members had never felt before.

All the Head Council Members were sent back flying as if a powerful attack hit all of them at once, which was quite strange since it was just an aura and no attack! If just the aura was this powerful, then what about an actual attack?

Eliana landed on the ground in the distance, balancing herself. Still, she coughed some blood as her face became somewhat pale.

The other Head Council Members weren't in much better condition either, and it was only worse for the ordinary teachers.

"We need to stop this!" Eliana roared, realizing that whatever this aura was, it could hurt their students.

Just like before, she cast a barrier to stop this mysterious aura from moving further. However, she knew that she couldn't do it alone. She needed the help of others if she wanted to succeed.

Rem also wiped the blood from his lips as he came to help. He joined both his hands, casting a spell. Thick walls of Earth came out of the group, reinforced by the element of Earth surrounding the tower.

Eliana's light Barrier was the first layer of defense, followed by Rem's barrier of Earth. Lishen also cast a barrier of wind as the third layer of defense to stop the aura.

A wall of fire also rose, giving another layer of cover, thanks to the involvement of Yoan. The other Head Council Members also came forward, helping with their best protection spell.

Unfortunately, even their best protection spell failed to stop the aura. Let alone the aura that had already passed through, even the ones that were still coming from inside the tower in pulses managed to break the barriers.

The barrier of Light shattered in the face of the aura, followed by the others.

Just as Eliana had stated, if things were bad for them, then it could only be worse for the commoners.

Within minutes, this aura surrounded the entire World. Only the powerful mages were able to resist the aura, but even they couldn't do so without getting hurt. As for the weak mages, they all fell unconscious, unable to resist that aura.

It was a phenomenon that was seen all around the World, which stunned everyone. The only ones who weren't affected by this aura were the mortals who didn't have any Element! It was like the King of Elements had awakened, and it was telling all the other Elements to remember their place!

Lira was still sitting in the forest with her eyes closed. Her nose was bleeding, and her face remained paler than ever as if her body had no blood.

Just like the mysterious aura of Gabriel was coming out of the Tower of Challenges, it was also coming out of the Book of Darkness since that's where the Realm of Darkness was where Gabriel was present.

In a faraway place, there existed a beautiful temple. If Gabriel were here, he would've been able to recognize that Temple as it was the place that he had seen in one of his visions as soon as he had touched the Black Sphere in the Museum of Elements.

The Temple was completely identical. The only difference was that the temple looked much older now.

Before the Temple, there stood Lelin with a white sphere in his hand.

Lelin was about to step closer to the temple when he stopped. He raised his head, feeling a powerful aura's presence.

"What do you think could've happened?" he asked, glancing back.

A hooded Spectre stood behind Lelin, looking in the direction of the Academy, which was thousands of miles away from this place.

"Someone went a bit too far..." The Spectre answered. "Too bad."

In an unknown place, there existed a dark river that was filled with spirits. There was never a single moment when the ear-piercing screams of Spirits couldn't be heard. However, at the moment, the river was completely silent... A bit too silent!

The river connected to another mysterious temple, from where Gabriel had received his Ancestral Staff from.

Right at the entrance of the Temple, there were nine giant statues, each belonging to one of the elements. However, there was only one statue that seemed to be damaged... The statue right in the middle.

However, due to the pressures of the mysterious aura that even managed to cover this part of the world, the other eight statues also broke into pieces. The ground started trembling, which wasn't an isolated incident here as there were many places that were facing an earthquake at the moment.

The Statues of the Eight other gods broke apart. At least the central statue was broken from its head up whenever it was broken. However, all the other statues weren't that lucky either as they all broke into thousands of pieces.

The Realm of Darkness was a place that was Lira's domain. It was what she used to capture Gabriel; however, she was the one who was captured here now.

A black ring appeared around Gabriel's finger, even in the realm of darkness, as the Grimoire of Necromancy managed to locate him thanks to his slightly more powerful aura. Even though it didn't seem like he needed the help of his Grimoire at the moment, it was much welcome.

Gabriel was unconscious, and his subconscious was controlling his soul temporarily, but that subconsciously appeared to be able to bring out something that Gabriel couldn't. It was like there was some power that he couldn't consciously access... At least not yet.

Strangely enough, it seemed as if he subconsciously was not only able to access that power but also to use it like it had been a part of him for centuries.

Gabriel raised right hand, glancing at his black ring with his lifeless eyes. He placed his right hand on his left shoulder as he started chanting something.

Even as Gabriel chanted a spell, his voice seemed the same as it had always been, but there also seemed something different about that voice now.

The voice had no shred of emotions in it. Moreover, it also felt as if the voice could be heard coming from every direction, even though it was clear that it was coming from Gabriel's lips.

Gabriel was also subconsciously chanting a spell that he consciously never used before. Let alone using the spell, he had never even heard the spell. It wasn't even available to Gabriel in the Forbidden Book of Necromancy at the moment.

The spell and its chant were also not in the language that could be understood, even by Lira. It was like an entirely new language even for her... The language of gods. A language that was older than any language currently known.

After Gabriel finished his spell, the mysterious red mist started rising around him, covering the left side of his shoulder.

What surprised Lira even more was that Gabriel's left arm started appearing once again, exactly the same as it used to be. The left arm looked quite illusory at the start, but with time, the left arm became as real as the rest of Gabriel's Spirit.

Lira had already seen so many impossible things happening today, and it wasn't any less surprising! She had sliced a part of Gabriel's Spirit with her own hands, and regenerating a soul like this should've been impossible even for him.

"Just who... Is he...?"

She didn't know what to think anymore. The boy before her was too strange. She had many questions, and one of them was about this strength of his.

She understood that it could be because of his Grimoire. It was possible that he might have had some spell in his Grimoire which could somehow heal his soul as well, no matter how impossible it sounded.

However, what still didn't make sense was how he had taken over her Realm of Darkness. She wasn't able to use the Darkness of her own realm. It was as if her surroundings were out of her control as well. It puzzled her when she thought why he didn't do it before if he was actually capable of doing something like this.

If he could take over her Realm, then why didn't he do it before? What was he waiting for?

Unfortunately, she couldn't ask Gabriel, as he didn't look like he was in the mood to answer. Even without the support of her realm, she knew she had to stop Gabriel. He was completely free now, and it was evident that he could also use his Element. She had to take him down before he could attack her.

So what if she couldn't use the darkness of her realm? She still had her own Elemental and the support of her Grimoire.

"Daggers of Darkness," she cast a spell, making a dagger appear in each of her hands.

"Shadow Transformation." She cast another spell, making her turn invisible. At the same time, she cast a third spell to increase her speed before flying ahead.

'I'll see how many times you can heal yourself!'

Gabriel seemed distracted in healing his arm, which gave her an opportunity to take him down. She didn't want to kill him, but she still had to control him in the situation before he could pull some trick.

Lira moved through the red mist, like an invisible assassin, closing in on Gabriel.

Gabriel was still looking over his left arm, which had just healed when Lira reached closer. She appeared behind Gabriel and placed both her daggers on Gabriel's throat.

"Make any movement, and I'll be slicing you in two halves. Remember, even you won't be able to heal if I take off your head here," she warned Gabriel.

She didn't just kill him since she was still worried about a potential curse on his soul. However, she also didn't hurt him since there wasn't much she could do.

Even if she sliced his hands or legs, he could still fight back. There was also a chance that he could try to escape from her realm after he was hurt, so she had to make him surrender first.

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Gabriel lowered his gaze, noticing two dark daggers on his throat, merely half an inch away. A little movement and the daggers could actually hurt his soul. That's also where his subconscious desire for survival kicked in. At the same time, there was also a desire in him for revenge on Lira, who hurt him so much.

Even when Gabriel wasn't consciously controlling his soul, his desires were still there in his subconscious self.

He spoke two more words, but this was also in a language that Lira couldn't understand. Following the words, Gabriel disappeared.

His soul appeared behind Lira, switching their positions. Lira sensed Gabriel's presence behind her. She turned around, but she was too late. As soon as she turned around, mysterious red shackles appeared around her hands and legs.

The shackles were quite similar to what she had used on Gabriel. Moreover, Gabriel also took the help of this realm to make these shackles like she did.

The shackles trapped Lira in her place like they had trapped Gabriel before. Gabriel grabbed her by her throat as his lifeless eyes looked into her deep yet slightly scared eyes.

As soon as Gabriel touched her, she didn't know why, but it was as if her body completely froze. She had her Element of Darkness, and she was quite close to her Grimoire. If she wanted, she could escape these shackles, but her body froze.

It was quite ironic that Gabriel held her throat in his left arm, which Lira had cut as if giving it some poetic justice.

Gabriel started tightening his grip, choking Lira. The pressure in his grip only kept increasing. He hadn't even used the strengthening spell yet. Lira found it quite painful. Even though her real body wasn't here, she still felt as if she was actually being choked.

Surprisingly enough, it was actually the case as some finger marks appeared around her throat in the real world as well, as if some mysterious force was choking her there as well, almost on the verge of crushing her neck.

Lira found it very hard to breathe as she had to struggle for each breath.

Lira was at the door of death, and she was unable to do anything. She couldn't even speak, let alone use any spells. Her two daggers also fell on the ground as her vision started getting blurry.

Back in the real world, the Grimoire of Darkness was shaking. Lira's life force was getting very weak, similar to what was happening to Gabriel before.

Fortunately, there was a silver lining in the sand for Lira. It was that her soul was still inside the Grimoire of Darkness, where she had the strongest connection with the Grimoire.

Meanwhile, it has been quite different for Gabriel, who had been quite far from his real Grimoire.

The Holy Grimoire of Darkness also started taking matters into its own hands to protect its owner. For that, it first needed to break the control of Gabriel on the Realm of Darkness.

An incredible amount of Dark Energy started flooding the Realm of Darkness which Gabriel had taken into his control. The realm, which had turned all red thanks to the red mist, again started turning dark.

The Grimoire of Darkness needed immense energy to regain the control. Lira was already very weak, so the energy couldn't come from her soul. Fortunately, she had been carrying high-grade soul crystals in her bags, which came in handy at the moment.

To have an additional boost, the Grimoire of Darkness utilized the spiritual energy from the Spiritual Crystals.

Immense amounts of Dark Energy rushed inside the Realm of Darkness, further boosting Lira's strength. Gabriel lost the control of the realm of darkness, which went back to Lira.

He tightened his grip, not wasting a single second. However, just as Lira's next was about to crack, she turned to pure darkness and disappeared.

In another part of the Prison of Darkness, the darkness started gathering, forming the figure of a woman.

As the Darkness disappeared, Lira was revealed, standing there. She was coughing intensely, and her face was still pale, but at least she was alive, and she had control of the Realm of Darkness once again.

Lira stared at Gabriel as she tried to gather her breath. She didn't know what had happened to him, but he had become very strong suddenly. She knew that he was too dangerous. If he was this strong in her Domain, he could only be stronger if he possessed this kind of strength in the real world.

"I can't let him leave. I have to stop him here, or he'll be too dangerous when he's outside!"

She didn't know what happened to Gabriel in the Academy of Element to make him this strong, but she knew she had to kill him here!

Gabriel also glanced back at Lira, who was standing in the distance. The realm was out of his control, but he didn't seem to care. It was as if this wasn't his concern. He could still use his own powers in the Realm of Darkness.

"Come out of the depths of the Darkness and slaughter my enemies!" Lira didn't dare get close to Gabriel this time as she didn't want to be caught. However, she still had some options to kill him without getting close.

She raised her hand, using the Realm of Darkness once again. The excessive darkness that had rushed inside her Domain had made her even stronger.

As if answering to Lira's calls, around ten Knights appeared around Gabriel, each carrying a heavy Sword. All the knights were made purely from the darkness. They looked humanoid, but they didn't have any faces. It was just dark energy that had the shape of humans.

The Darkness Knights surrounded Gabriel from all sides. All the Knights of Darkness attached at the same time, some going for his head while others were going for his chest.

Lira remained in the distance, seeing her Knights attack Gabriel. As the Knights got closer to Gabriel, her view of Gabriel became obstructed by them, making her unable to see if they succeeded or not.

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She soon received the answer as she saw all her Knights of Darkness being pushed back. Shockingly, they weren't being pushed back by Gabriel!

"How... is... this... possible?" Lira took a step back subconsciously as she noticed just what had pushed her Knights back.

She had summoned ten Knights of Darkness with her spell, but at the moment, there weren't ten... Instead, there were twenty Knights of Darkness there!

Each of her Knight of Darkness was being held back by another Knight of Darkness. Meanwhile, Gabriel stood completely unharmed.

The other set of Dark Knights were completely identical to Lira's Dark Knights, but she had no control over them. They definitely weren't hers. Then whose? Did Gabriel call them? How could he use her spells? It was understandable that he had some unique spells of his own, but he shouldn't have been able to use her spells!

In her mind, there was no doubt that the Dark Knights he called were called through her spells, and they were made purely from her darkness and not the red mist like those chains from before.

Gabriel wasn't even looking at the battle of Knights of Darkness as he started stepping toward Lira.

For each step he took toward her, he felt a heavy pressure over him, as if the gravity kept getting stronger under the pressure of this prison, but unlike before, he didn't fall to his knees. He was able to completely ignore this gravity.

He also began to chant another spell that was different from any he had used before. It was also in the same incomprehensible language, but it was not the same spell as before.

Lira didn't know what spell Gabriel was casting, but she also started casting her strongest offensive spell. She knew Gabriel could disappear when she was near him, so fighting him at close range was the worst option. The best option was to destroy his soul without getting close to him.

Both the mages were casting their spells at the same time, and it was unclear what each of the spells was going to do. However, Lira was much faster in casting her spell. Gabriel was only halfway through his spell when Lira had already finished her spell.

"Dark Oasis!"

Gabriel's consciousness had fallen asleep for its own protection from all the pain that it was going through to protect its sanity. However, even when his consciousness was sleeping, it wasn't idle.

While his soul was being controlled subconsciously, real Gabriel found himself in a different place, as if he was in one of the dreams again, which was the safe place for his consciousness at a time like this.

As soon as he woke up in the new surroundings, he immediately looked at his left hand. Fortunately, his left hand wasn't missing. However, he also noticed that his Mark of Light was missing, which only happened when he was in one of those odd dreams.

"Again, a dream? What about the battle with Lira? If I'm dreaming, then I can't be dead yet. But she won't let me leave either."

"It seems I've lost consciousness because of the pain..." He was quite disappointed in himself for not being able to hear the pain. If he couldn't even see his body, how was he going to know what Lira was doing with it?

Fortunately, there was also a plus side to it that he could think of.

"If I'm unconscious in the Dark Prison, Lira should know that hurting me is useless. She wants me to feel the pain, so she would want me to wake up before she continues," he muttered as he started observing his surroundings.

Gabriel didn't know where he actually was in his dream, as this place was also completely unknown to him. All he could see was that he was in an empty room.

The room wasn't too big. It was only four meters wide and five meters long. The room had nothing inside it. He could also see dust everywhere as if the room hadn't been cleaned in a really long time.

The room also had a wooden door, which had a crack spread across it. There was also a window, which was letting some light come inside the room.

With each step that Gabriel took toward the window, he heard some creaking sound from the wooden floor.

Ignoring the creaking sound of the old floor, he stopped right before the window and looked outside.

"This place..."

"Dark Oasis!"

Lira finished her spell which was one of her most powerful spells that could be used for attacking.

All the Dark Aura in the entire Realm of Darkness rushed to Gabriel. Her attack was powerful in the real world, but it was even more powerful here with all the excess elemental strength available for her to utilize here. She had the home advantage!

On the other hand, Gabriel was fighting in someone else's domain, and he seemed already engaged in a spell. He could either stop casting his spell and take care of the attack, or he could just continue what he was doing and let himself be attacked.

He decided to take the third option. He made a small gesture which made all his Dark Knights return. All the Dark Knights surrounded him with their Dark Shields as Gabriel continued chatting.

Boom~

Even though the Dark Knights were also made from the Darkness of this Realm, even they couldn't stand the assault of the Dark Oasis which attacked them. As soon as they came in contact with the Dark Oasis, their bodies were destroyed and submerged in the Darkness. Their obstruction didn't weaken the Dark Oasis. Instead, it only made it stronger.

The Dark Oasis finally hit Gabriel. All the darkness started rushing inside Gabriel's soul.

Dark Oasis was a spell that was as scary as it was powerful, as it was quite hard to avoid this spell. Dark Oasis was a spell that specifically targeted a soul, even in the real world. That's also what made it so dangerous.

In Dark Oasis, all the poisonous darkness entered a person's soul, destroying it from inside after overwhelming their souls. Since a mage couldn't accommodate another Element in their soul without having that Element at the start, this made their soul even more chaotic, ultimately destroying the soul.

This was an attack that avoided all physical defenses of a person and attacked their weakest spot.

The Darkness kept infiltrating Gabriel's Soul. Even though Gabriel's subconscious was controlling the soul, still the pain could be seen on his face.

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All this darkness was overwhelming him, but he stood tall. Gabriel's fists clenched tightly as he didn't give in to the darkness. Surprisingly, he still hadn't given up chanting his Spell.

Seeing all her Darkness entering Gabriel's body, Lira could relax. There was no way his soul was going to survive now.

"You are already dead now... Enjoy your last few moments..."

Lira was sure that she was victorious in this battle. Even if Gabriel could survive with all the darkness in his soul for a few minutes, that was the extent to it before his soul was going to blow up.

Unfortunately, those few minutes were enough for him to call his spell as well.

Gabriel actually finished his spell, despite all the darkness wreaking havoc inside his soul.

As soon as Lira saw Gabriel finish his spell, she actually disappeared. Even she didn't dare to stay behind to see just what this spell was, even though it was her own realm.

She ran from her own Domain, returning to the real world. She was sure that Gabriel was already dead. It was only a matter of time, so there was no benefit in her staying behind and waiting for her death!

Lira's eyes opened in the real world. Unlike the Prison World, where she felt like she was perfectly fine, she felt dead in the real world. Her nose was bleeding, and her body was in so much pain that even moving a finger was painful for her.

The Grimoire of Darkness also seemed very stable, but it was only about to get worse...

Finding Gabriel's powerful spell, the Prison of Darkness was destroyed thoroughly, being ripped from shred to shred. If Lira had been there, her soul would've been destroyed as well. Unfortunately, she wasn't safe even though she was in the real world either.

Since the Prison of Darkness was inside the Grimoire of Darkness, the Grimoire took the brunt of the attack. The Prison of Darkness was destroyed, but that wasn't the extent of all the damage.

Gabriel's attack didn't just destroy all the Darkness in the Prison of Darkness but also destroyed most of the Dark Energy that the Grimoire of Darkness had gathered throughout the centuries, weakening the Grimoire even further.

Since Lira was connected to the Grimoire of Darkness, she also took the damage. Her spiritual strength suffered heavy losses. She was an Advanced Mage before she went against Gabriel, but her spiritual strength went down to a mid-tier mage's level because of all the damage!

Even though she avoided the attack by escaping in time, Her Spiritual Strength couldn't avoid it. She had managed to save her life, but in the process, she lost a lot more.

Lira kept coughing out blood as her face went pale.

"Cough... Cough..." She kept coughing, unable to stop. She walked to the nearest pond to have some water and to clean the blood.

As she walked to the Pond, she didn't realize that there was a new mark on her left shoulder... A Mark of Location. Gabriel's subconscious had marked her body. No matter where she went, through the mark, he could know where she was!

The Prison of Darkness was destroyed by Gabriel, who dealt as much damage as he could.

Grimoires were Holy Treasures of the gods, which contained their divine strength, so being able to damage one was almost impossible! Still, Gabriel was able to achieve it for some reason. He didn't just damage the Grimoire of Darkness, but he did a lot more!

After the Prison of Darkness was destroyed, Gabriel's soul was free to return to his real body. However, there was still one problem. The soul was inflicted with all the Darkness that had infiltrated it and now causing chaos inside the soul.

Since the Soul of Gabriel had no other choice, it was back inside the body, bringing all the darkness with it. Gabriel's body's veins started turning black, which was visible even from a distance.

Cylix and Novius were hurt by the aura explosion from before, but they still managed to recover after the sudden explosion of the aura stopped.

They stood on their feet, but they didn't get closer to Gabriel again. They didn't know what was happening to him at the moment. At first, his life force was weak, but it started recovering, followed by the aura explosion, and now his veins were turning black?

Unlike Cylix and Novius, who were observing Gabriel from a distance, the Infernal King walked closer to him again, despite being hurt the last time.

He stood right beside Gabriel again, observing the changes in his body, especially the dark aura that could suddenly be felt inside his body. For now, he actually looked like he was poisoned, but it was different at the same time.

The Mark of Binding on the Staff of Darkness that was flickering out of existence in the past, as if it was about to fail, had also stabilized again. Strangely enough, the mark hadn't just stabilized, but it also started getting stronger.

With Gabriel's attack right at the core of the Grimoire of Darkness, Lira was hurt, and the Grimoire of Darkness was also much weaker. That, in turn, also weakened the Ancestral Staff of Darkness and its resistance to the binding.

Gabriel's Spirit was overwhelmed by the darkness that was trying to destroy his soul. If it were anyone else's soul, it would've already been destroyed by now. Somehow, his soul was still able to resist. Not only was his soul resisting, but it was also doing something that should've been impossible.

To resist the darkness, there was only one way… to increase their affinity with the Darkness. It was similar to using poison to counter poison.

Lira had forced the entire darkness of her Dark Prison inside Gabriel's soul, but he was using that darkness to his own advantage.

Instead of letting the darkness destroy the soul, Gabriel's soul started absorbing that darkness to increase its affinity with the Darkness. It also started compressing all the darkness into a single point...

Something about Gabriel's body had started changing. The more that darkness inside the soul was compressed, the more his affinity with darkness increased, almost reaching a natural point as a mark started appearing on his body.

On the back of Gabriel's left hand, there was a Sacred Mark of Element of Light. However, right above that Mark of Light, another mark started appearing... A Mark which was much darker.

"How... is... this... possible...?"

Novius saw the mark taking shape, recognizing it right away. He had seen that mark more than a thousand times before as it was a mark that he had as well! It was the same mark that he had on the back of his left hand: Sacred Mark of Element of Darkness!

Gabriel was awakening his Elemental affinity with another Element? This time it was the Element of Darkness!

"Element of Light, and Element of Darkness... Both inside the same body? Three Elements? Just how could this be...?" Cylix knew that Gabriel was special since he had an element that was never seen before. However, this had surpassed the limits of being special at the moment! This was outright within the limit of being impossible!

The Infernal King didn't know the complete significance of these marks and how incredible it was to have more than one of them since he wasn't training in the way of the living mages. Instead, he was more concerned with the veins of Gabriel that were turning black.

Fortunately, his veins started returning to normal as the new mark on his left hand became more and more real with time.

The Mark of Binding on the Ancestral Staff of Darkness also kept getting stronger since Gabriel finally had more affinity with the Darkness.

In the end, the Ancestral Staff of Darkness actually gave in, submitting before the strength of the Mark. The Ancestral Staff was finally bound to Gabriel who had created the Mark of Binding.

"What is this place?" Gabriel stood before a window, looking outside. He was sure he was in a dream, but he still had to find out what kind of dream it was.

Was it like his first bizarre dream where he could just watch and not do anything? Or was it like his last dream where he met the Goddess of Nature and was able to interact with her as long as the progression of memories didn't stop?

From the window, he had a really strange view of the outside. Through the window, it was evident that he was at a great height from the actual surface outside, as if he was on one of the highest floors of some tower.

Outside the tower, there was nothing but water. As far as the eyes could see, only beautiful blue water could be seen that appeared to be meeting the blue sky at the end of his view.

It was really surprising to see a structure of this height if it was actually in the middle of the sea. However, he also realized that he only had a view of one side of the tower. Maybe there was ground on the other end of the tower where there was no window for him to look outside?

He placed his fingers on the windows and gently pushed them open. The windows opened toward the outside, letting all the fresh air come inside.

The fresh sea breeze was something that Gabriel hadn't felt before as he lived in a place where they didn't have a sea anywhere close to them. The gentle breeze was quite refreshing and actually managed to calm his head which was still worried.

He wasn't concerned about this dream, as the dreams often broke on their own after a few hours. He wasn't trapped here. The only real concern was the Prison of Darkness which he needed to break out of. He had to find a way to get out of that mess after he left this place.

He brought his head out the window and looked around, wondering if he could see even a glimpse of some land nearby.

"No land here. It doesn't look like the sea is going to end here either. There shouldn't be any land nearby," he analyzed, based on the visuals. "Still... If someone made a tower here, there's no way they would make one that no one could reach. There must be a bridge or something connecting to the tower that leads to the land."

"First, I need to find that exit."

"Body of Light: Flight!" he cast a Spell, only to remember that in these dreams, he didn't have his Element of Light to use that spell.

As the spell didn't work, he glanced at the back of his left hand. "Right when I need it..."

The Flight Spell of Element of Light allowed him to fly. Even though it was a low-tier flight spell that only allowed him to fly at a specific height and only for a few minutes, those few minutes should've been more for him to observe the tower's surroundings and land on the bridge, if there were any.

Unfortunately, that spell couldn't be used. He couldn't jump out of the window either as he was at a great height, and from that height, even if he fell into the body of water, he was going to be hurt badly.

He didn't know if he could get hurt in the dreams or not, but he was sure that he could certainly feel pain. In the last dream, when the Goddess of Nature attacked him for killing her brother, he definitely felt a lot of pain.

Fortunately, there was also another path. Not too far from the window, there was also a wooden door.

He stepped closer to the door, which had a prominent crack spread across it. The crack was definitely not from a blunt weapon.

It didn't look like it came when someone tried to break the door, as the angle was all wrong. It looked more like someone had left that mark intentionally there, making it with a sword.

Through the cracks, he could also see some light coming inside. Whatever it was outside the door, the place was definitely brighter than the room he was in.

There was also no handle on the door, let alone a lock. Gabriel reached out his hands to push the door open but stopped before his fingers could even touch the old rotten door.

Just as his fingers were about to touch the door, he heard some sound coming from outside.

Tap~

Tap~

It was the sound of footsteps as if someone was walking closer to the door from the other side. The sound of footsteps only became more prominent as the person outside the door walked closer to the door.

From the sound of footsteps, it was quite hard to guess if it was a man or a woman, but one thing was for sure. It was definitely a human and no beast who was coming from outside.

Gabriel stepped back, gaining some distance. He didn't know who was outside the door, but he was sure that whoever this person was, he didn't know him.

He was sure he was seeing Karyk's memories from the last few times. This was supposed to be no different than that. The person outside was definitely someone from Karyk's timeline... And if it was a person from that timeline, there was no way that person was going to be alive in his timeline for him to know about them.

Unless it was another God of Element like the Goddess of Nature, there was no way for him to know even a single thing about them.

The footsteps stopped right before the door. There was only silence for a few seconds as Gabriel waited for the doors to open with bated breath.

Accompanying a creaking noise, the old door started opening toward the outside.

As the door was fully open, Gabriel managed to see the person who had just arrived. Seeing the person outside the door, all of Gabriel's initial expectations went upside down.

"It's you?" he asked with disbelief. "How can you be in these memories?"

Gabriel was slightly taken aback to see a young man before him who he had seen before as well. It hadn't been too long since the last time he saw that person as the man was there at the academy with him.

It was a young man who had beautiful blonde hair that was covering his forehead. His hair wasn't too long, but it did match the color of his eyes.

The man was Lelin, who also robbed the Academy of Elements like him. That was what was most strange about this. How was Lelin here if this was Karyk's memories? And if it wasn't Karyk's memories, then just what was this?

"I had a feeling I'll find you here," Lelin stated, observing Gabriel.

"What are you doing here?" Gabriel asked, but Lelin didn't answer. He didn't even react as if he couldn't hear Gabriel's question, which gave Gabriel the feeling that it was quite similar to his initial dreams, where he couldn't interact with anyone. He could just watch.

Lelin didn't look like he was here to attack him. There was no intent like that on his face. Instead, he walked to the window and glanced at the beautiful sea through the open windows.

"Then again, I can't blame you for coming here. This place certainly has a beautiful view."

Gabriel kept his eyes on Lelin, trying to get a grasp on the situation.

'There is no way Lelin had been alive in Karyk's time. If he is here, then it's definitely not Karyk's memories that I'm seeing. I was going about it all wrong. It's something more than the memories. But what?'

"Won't you ask why I was looking for you?" Lelin asked Gabriel without looking back.

"Why were you looking for me?" Gabriel asked in response, but once again, his voice fell on deaf ears.

"Then again, there's no way you wouldn't know about it. You're right. It's about the Temple," Lelin continued. "You've really pissed them off, you know? There is not a single person on your side now."

"They sent me as a Messenger to you," he stated. "They want you to hand over what you took from them... Or rather, if I were to use the specific terms that they used, they want you to hand over what you stole."

"What did I steal?" Even though Gabriel could see that Lelin wasn't listening to him, he was still curious about what this guy was talking about. Was he talking about the Numens that he stole? But didn't he also steal one in that case?

"Anyway, that's all I had to say. I am just a messenger, after all. After this point, it's your choice what you want to do." Lelin stated. Though if I were in your place, I definitely would have returned the things I took. It's better not to escalate the situation, especially after your current equation with the other gods."

"If the Temple also goes against you, things would be way worse than they are now, even for someone like you... I hope you will make the right choice, Lord Karyk."

After finishing his message, Lelin started leaving, but his last words intrigued Gabriel the most. He addressed him as Lord Karyk? So this was actually a dream related to Karyk as well? Another memory? But how was Lelin here then?

Gabriel took a subtle glance at the back of Lelin's hand, wondering if there was any mark of the element. There was no mark on the back of his hand.

'Is it that he only looks similar to the Lelin that I saw?' He wondered.

There was a saying in his world that there were quite a lot of people who had the same face and looks if all the humans were to be considered. It could be that the Lelin he saw in the Academy was just someone who had the same face as this guy but was a completely different person.

Another question he had was about the supposed Orbs of Time. The name was quite intriguing even for him. He just didn't know what the orb of time meant. He hadn't heard about something like that in his lifetime. Maybe Lambard and Lira were going to know about that, but he had already burned all his bridges with them at this point.

'It would've been so good if I could interact with him like I was able to do with the Goddess of Nature...'

After delivering the message, Lelin left from the same route he came, leaving Gabriel alone in the hall.

Gabriel stood alone, thinking about the Spheres of Time, when he received an idea.

"I still have the Element of Necromancy. The spells of ours should be quite similar since I also received them from the Grimoire. That means our storage realm spell should be quite similar as well."

He didn't have the Mark of Light here to cast his spell of light, but he had the Element of Necromancy, which Karyk used to have.

He could also guess that if Karyk was keeping his treasures somewhere, it could only be his Spatial Storage realm. He was certainly too powerful to be scared and to hide them elsewhere.

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Gabriel was quite confident he was going to find the Spheres of Time in the storage.

He raised his right hand, making a circular motion with his fingers before him, casting the Space Storage spell.

Through the. Spell, he was able to connect to Karyk's Spatial Storage and see all the items that were kept there. Amongst all the items, there were only two items that were spherical...

There were two spheres that Gabriel could see inside the Spatial Storage, and it wasn't his first time seeing either of those! These two Orbs were the same that were inside the sealed wooden box inside the Museum of Elements!

Amongst the two spheres, one was black, and one was white!

"These two are Spheres of Time?"

Gabriel grimaced. If that was the case, that meant Lelin took one of the Spheres of Time while he was able to hold onto one. But what were their uses? Why were these things so special? And what was the Temple that was looking for it?

The Binding of the Ancestral Staff of Darkness was completed. The Ancestral Staff lied still after it was tied to Gabriel.

As the Mark of Darkness appeared right next to his Mark of Light, Gabriel's body also started recovering even more. The veins of his that had turned black returned back to normal as if a balance had been established where the darkness was being kept at bay by his light and vice versa.

Things seemed to have settled down as his life force was also stable. Not only was it stable, but his life force had only become stronger.

The Infernal King could finally relax as it seemed that Gabriel was fine now. Whatever problem he was facing, he seemed to have navigated out of it. Now all they needed was to wait for him to get up.

Gabriel was out of danger. The Prison of Darkness had been destroyed, so he was as safe as it could be. It was also when his consciousness started waking up, albeit slowly.

Gabriel was inside his dream, looking inside the Spatial Storage. His entire focus rested on the two Spheres of different colors, one being black and the other being white.

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The Spheres were addressed as the Orbs of Time, which implied they had some connection with time itself. But what connection? And what was the Temple that was supposed to be after him? Also, why was it supposed to be a threat?

Moreover, there was another question. Why did Karyk take these two orbs? Just what did he want to achieve with them? Did he succeed in what he wanted to do? Or did he fail? How did these Orbs of Time end up in the Academy?

The questions didn't stop there either. The more Gabriel thought about it, the more his questions increased, similar to his headache. Why did Lelin want these Orbs in the Real World?

Since Lelin only took the white one and didn't even know that there was also a black one, that only made Gabriel convinced that Lelin wasn't the same person he had seen before.

The person Gabriel saw there appeared to be quite knowledgeable about the Spheres of Time and knew about them. There was no way he wasn't going to know that there were two.

"I need to ask him, but he can't even listen to me," Gabriel mumbled, glancing at the doors.

In the end, he just decided to follow the man. Even if he couldn't talk to the man who looked like Lelin, at least he could know more about that person through his movements. If anything, there was also a possibility that he could've traced him back to the people who he was working for to understand more.

Gabriel stepped out of the empty room to chase after the man.

As soon as his first step landed outside the room, he found his surroundings turn pitch white.

The world created in his dreams shattered into pieces, tossing him out of the realm of dreams and back into the real world.

It had been over three hours since Gabriel had fallen to the ground, being attacked by the Staff of Darkness. He still hadn't woken up.

He was still lying on the ground with everyone waiting for him to wake up. The Infernal King, Novius, Cylix, and the youngsters were all waiting in the distance, keeping an eye on the unmoving young man.

None of them had seen a phenomena even close to this in their entire lifetime.

"His condition seems much better now. He has been out of danger for quite some time, and he even succeeded in controlling the Staff of Darkness. Why isn't he waking up?" Cylix wondered.

They had so many questions, especially regarding that strange yet powerful aura that attacked them, but the only person who could answer that was Gabriel. They needed to wait for him to wake up first. Unfortunately, none of them knew how long he was going to take.

It was as if everything had come to a halt as everyone waited for Gabriel.

Gabriel's dream was broken, and he finally started waking up. Even though his condition was better than it had been before, his body was still aching, as if he had gone through a fierce battle and suffered a lot of damage.

His pained groan echoed in the hall, alerting everyone that he was up!

Gabriel's eyes momentarily opened, only to close right after. He felt as if his eyes didn't want to open, as if they wanted him to sleep for longer to give them more rest.

He forced his eyes to open a few times to get them adjusted to the light in the surroundings.

Holding his head, he sat up and observed his surroundings. He had expected to be back in the Prison of Darkness, but he found himself inside the Tower of Challenges. He also noticed the Infernal King and the two founders, who were looking at him with slight relief.

"I'm out?" he wondered. He was sure that Lira wasn't going to let him leave that easily. Then how was he back here?

"Was that also a dream?"

He didn't know that he had fought Lira for his freedom, which was why he couldn't make sense of his return.

"No... It definitely wasn't a dream! That couldn't be one! The pain was real!"

He couldn't accept denying all the pain he had gone through. His interaction with Lira was real. He was sure of it.

"Did you two help me in my return?" Since Lira wasn't going to let him leave, it made more sense to think that the two Founders helped him escape from that place. Or maybe it was the Infernal King? He could give credit to everyone except for taking it himself.

Cylix and Novius didn't understand what help he was talking about. Even though they wanted to help, there was literally nothing they could do. It was all the doing of him.

Seeing the confused gazes on their faces, Gabriel had second thoughts about them as well. It seemed as if they weren't the ones either. Then who?

As Gabriel wondered, he noticed the Grimoire of Necromancy lying right beside him. That made sense! His Grimoire helped him, he thought.

Strangely enough, a new page was open in the Grimoire with a new spell.

"Huh?"

He picked up the Grimoire and placed it on his lap, observing the new spell. He also turned pages back to see if it was the only new spell. Surprisingly enough, that wasn't the case.

There wasn't just one new spell, but two! He had seven Spells before, but now there were two new spells

The eighth spell 'Lifeless Heal' was before him. It was the same spell that he had used subconsciously in the Prison of Darkness.

It appeared as if the Grimoire had awakened that spell since it was used by Gabriel. The spell not only allowed him to heal his body but also his soul. It was a High Tier Spell, and a more powerful version of his Light Heal that he had been using before.

As the Lifeless Heal was attached with his Element of Necromancy that he ruled over, that increased the potential of this spell even more.

What surprised Gabriel more was the ninth spell.

"Peak Tier Spell..."

So far, he had only seen the might of a high-tier spell, which was so strong that it was too overwhelming for even his own soul. To use one High Tier offensive spell, his soul wasn't strong enough. Still, he was given a Peak Tier Spell?

He couldn't believe that this was the same Grimoire that was keeping even the middle-tier spells restricted from him as it thought that they were too much for him. And now it was giving him a peak Tier spell?

He didn't realize that it wasn't the Grimoire that gave him that spell. His soul had used that spell on its own, which brought him into his Grimoire as well! The only difference was in the language.

When he subconsciously chanted that spell, the language was something that Lira couldn't understand. Now that the spell was in his Grimoire, he was able to read the spell perfectly as if the spell was made just for him to understand.

"Wrath of the Dead," Gabriel repeated the name of the spell. There was one strange thing about this spell though.

In other spells, at least there was a description of what those spells did, but there was no description about this spell here. The page only mentioned the spell name, the spell tier, and the spell chant!

If he wanted to know what it did, he had to test it himself. He wasn't stupid enough to do it though. He had already seen the impact of a High Tier spell on his soul and his body when he tried it. When it came to a Peak Tier spell, he knew it could only bring a disaster to him.

"I need to be at least an Advanced Tier Mage to use that spell safely," he muttered. Even though this spell seemed powerful, it was a bit too powerful even for him. Unless he was in a life-or-death situation where nothing else worked, he didn't want to try that spell.

"It can only be like a last resort." He closed the Grimoire of Necromancy, sending it back to the Ring Form that appeared around his finger.

Even though he was surprised at getting a Peak Tier spell, he wasn't upset. On the contrary, he was quite happy. He knew just how many enemies he had. He needed as many hidden cards as he could possibly have, as all his enemies were too strong.

"Thank you for the help." He couldn't help but thank his Grimoire of Necromancy.

After he finally had an idea about the reason behind his safe return, some of his questions were answered.

He stood up, looking for the Ancestral Staff of Darkness.

"Hmm? It also succeeded?" Noticing the Ancestral Staff of Darkness, he could see that his Mark of Binding was successful! His mark was not only visible on the Ancestral Staff of Darkness, but it was also shining.

Gabriel could also feel some connection with the Ancestral Staff of Darkness.

"It belongs to me now...?" He reached out his left hand toward the Staff.

Just as his hand was about to touch the Ancestral Staff of Darkness, he saw something that stunned him even more. On the back of his left hand, there wasn't just the Mark of Light. There was also a Mark of Darkness there! Another Elemental Mark! As if two were too little, he now had three.

With a puzzled look on his face, he turned to Cylix and Novius. How was this possible?

"Don't look at us like that. Even we don't know how that's possible," Cylix shrugged all the responsibility off his shoulders since they had no hand in it.

He further explained what happened after Gabriel lost consciousness and how his life seemed to be in danger before everything changed.

Gabriel could only give the credit to the Grimoire of Necromancy in that case. If he was actually captured and unable to escape, the only thing which could bring him back and even help him conquer the Ancestral Staff of Darkness was his Grimoire!

His Grimoire was his answer to every question which he couldn't make sense of, no matter how impossible it sounded.

"Does this Mark mean that I have the Element of Darkness as well now? I can cast the spells of Darkness?" he asked Novius, who was a master of Darkness.

"That's right. Your Mark of Darkness is proof that you're also a Dark Mage now," Novius answered. "You should be able to cast Spells of Darkness. At the same time, you should also be able to use the Ancestral Staff of Darkness to cast those spells and boost their strength even further."

"The only drawback is that you don't have the Grimoire of Darkness, so you can't utilize the element of Darkness as well as the Holy Priestesses of Darkness, but you still have more capabilities than any ordinary Dark Mage thanks to your head start," be continued.

Even though everything here was so bizarre, it was still something that Novius was happy about. If Gabriel was also a dark Mage, that meant the Element of Darkness had a decent and powerful heir.

Moreover, he could teach Gabriel as well now. Before, he only had the Element of Light, so he was supposed to be taught by Cylix. Now, the two of them could teach him so he could be much safer outside and ensure the survival of the Dark Element.

Novius didn't realize that Gabriel was slightly different now. In the past, he was still allowed with Lira. However, now, things had fallen apart. So by teaching Gabriel, he wasn't just going to ensure the survival of the Element of Darkness. It was something else entirely...

"How about you test it?" Novius suggested as he stepped closer.

He taught Gabriel one of the easiest to learn spells. It was a spell that created a small sliver of darkness over one's hands. It was a useless spell for the most part, which couldn't be used for anything except just to create a speck of darkness. At the same time, this was also a perfect spell for this test.

Gabriel was the youngest Mage of a Light ever known in history to awaken with the Element of Light at the age of eighteen.

After receiving the Element of Darkness, he also became the youngest person ever to awaken the Element of Darkness.

Even though his spirit had no choice but to utilize all the darkness that was forced on him, making it a forced Awakening, it was still no different than the Natural Awakening.

Thanks to his connection with the Forbidden Book of Necromancy, Gabriel's Spiritual potential, and Talent were already at the peak tier, which couldn't just be utilized for the Elements of Necromancy.

It didn't matter what increased his talent and potential to leak tier; what mattered was that there was no restriction on what that talent could be used for.

That also made him a perfect candidate for the Element of Light and the Element of Darkness, further strengthening his mind in learning concepts of various elements as long as his body had an affinity with that Element.

Novius taught Gabriel the most basic spell, which took Gabriel only a few minutes to learn, thanks to his talent.

He raised his right hand, casting the small spell of Darkness.

As soon as he finished casting a spell, a small sphere of darkness appeared above his hand. The sphere of darkness couldn't be used for attacking as it was very weak and small. However, it still made Gabriel impressed. It was true! He was using a spell of Darkness!

That meant he had three elements now, with Necromancy being his main and stronger element!

He was a Necromancer who could use more than what was his specialty! He had no idea how this all worked since he was the first person in history known to awaken more than one element in his lifetime.

What didn't make sense was why him? How could he be the only person to awaken more Elements? If it was related to his Grimoire, then other Grimoires were also similarly strong. Why didn't any Holy Priest in history awaken another element?

After a few seconds, the small sphere of darkness dispersed on its own.

"Incredible, isn't it?" Novius asked. "You are now a Dark Mage as well, young man. And I couldn't be any happier."

"Why are you happy about it?" Gabriel asked. Why did they care if he became stronger? They knew that he was against their academy and possibly against the entire world. Then why were they so pleased to see him gaining more Elements?

"Why won't we be happy?" Cylix chuckled. "There was a time when Light and Darkness used to be friends. The world still had its problems even then, but we all fought together, and not against one another."

"I don't know what happened in recent times, but that bond has broken, and with it broke all hopes of coexistence. With the war of Light and Darkness, the world became a much worse place than it used to be. Now that you have both Light and Darkness, you are the bond between the two elements!"

Cylix placed his hand on Gabriel's shoulder, compassionately looking at the young man. "I know things are going to be hard for you because of these two elements, but if there is a person who can heal this World... It is you. At this point, words can't help the world. Only strength can change the world from its core!"

"With the kind of potential you have, you are the only person we can think of that can even stand before all the forces of the world," he continued.

Novius chimed in as well. "If they say people holding the Element of Light are Angels, then you are that angel! If they say that people holding the Element of Darkness are Demons, then you are that Demon!"

"You are the exception that breaks all their logic. If you're a Demon, you can't be an angel. If you're an angel, you can't be a demon! You're a loving paradox for them! You're proof that there is no good or bad from birth. Being good or bad, it's all about the person and not their element!"

"You are the living Gray Area in their black and white world!" Novius stated.

When he first saw Gabriel, he thought he had a challenger who didn't have the potential to defeat them. However, after knowing him better, he realized that he was wrong! Gabriel wasn't the person who didn't have the potential to defeat them! Instead, he was someone who had the potential to defeat even Gods and Demons if they stood in his path!

Unfortunately, that was just the potential. He hadn't reached the point where he could utilize his full potential yet. If he was killed before he could even reach that point, then it was all for naught... That's why they needed to make sure that he couldn't be killed that easily!

They needed to make sure that Gabriel was strong! At least strong enough to protect himself from danger or to fight back! If they wanted him to change the world, they needed to be his strength!

Gabriel was already very good at using his Origin Element of Necromancy... A bit too good. He also had a Holy Grimoire to help with the Necromancy, so they didn't need to focus on that. Even if they wanted, they couldn't teach him anything about Necromancy since they themselves didn't know anything about it.

However, they could still teach him about things in which he was lacking! Since Gabriel was more focused on his main Element, he rarely used other Elements, which were also very versatile when it came to battles.

He didn't have anyone to teach him about his Element of Darkness; the world didn't have many Dark Mages or the same resources that they used to have.

As for people who could teach him the Element of Light in the outside world, they were never going to teach him anything since he had the Element of Darkness, and they considered him their enemy…

Gabriel had his Grimoire as his teacher for his Necromancy. He only needed teachers for his Darkness and Light Elements, and Cylix and Novius believed that they could fill that gap!

That had to make Gabriel stronger, so he could be the force of change onto the world! They had really high expectations from Gabriel, not realizing that his own expectations from him were quite different.

The goals that they thought for him were not the goals that he had made for himself.

"Do you want to rest, or shall we start right now?" Cylix asked Gabriel, who seemed confused at their words.

"What do you mean? Start what?" Gabriel asked in return. "You mean my battle with Qin?"

If it was about the battle, he still needed more time since he had gone through a lot recently. He needed some time to gather his thoughts. Moreover, there was no time restriction on this floor, so he could also take as much time as he needed.

"Hahaha." Cylix burst into a hearty laughter. "You don't need to fight Qin. That battle has been canceled since you've already proven your worth by defeating your first opponent."

"Then ready for what? If it's about a battle with you, my answer will still be the same. I need more time."

Gabriel stuck with his answer since he didn't want to fight now. Even though his body was perfectly fine now, there was still a headache that he was suffering from. He also didn't want to be distracted when fighting these people.

"Don't worry. You can take as much time as you need. In any case, it's going to take a few months in your training at least."

"My training?"

"Of course, your training. We both noticed that you don't have much knowledge of your Elements of Light and Darkness, so you definitely need some guidance. We will be teaching you everything we know about the two Elements and the spells that always came in handy for us."

"Why?" Gabriel asked, confused.

He was happy that they were going to teach him since he definitely needed some stronger spells, but why were they doing it for him? In the end, it was he who had to fight them. Why were they strengthening their enemy? Did they want to lose in the coming battle?

Even though he was right about the last part, as Cylix and Novius actually wanted to lose, he was quite wrong about the reason. They weren't teaching him because they wanted to lose. It was just an added advantage for them.

"Because we want you to defeat us using our own Element! Consider it your challenge!" Cylix smirked. "Since you have the Element of Light, I want you to defeat me only using the Element of Light. If you use any other Element, then I'll fail you, and you'll be kicked out!"

"And since you have the Element of Darkness, I want you to defeat me using the same Element of Darkness."

The two of them wanted to teach him, and what better way to motivate him to learn than by claiming that it was his only ticket to the hundredth floor?

If they just said that they simply wanted to teach him because they thought he was worthy, there was a good chance that he wasn't going to take his training seriously. But if there was something at stake...

Something like the access to the hundredth Floor, then not only was he going to take his training seriously, but he was going to become much stronger, focusing only on their element while in training.

This way, both of them left no option before Gabriel but to agree to them.

If Gabriel was confused about why they wanted to train him before, he now had a proper idea, even though he was still wrong.

He had a High Tier Spell of Necromancy that he used to kill Axion called the Curse of the Dead! He was sure that he could've defeated at least one of the two founders with that spell, gaining the access to the hundredth floor.

It also made sense to him that they would change the rules of the Trial. Based on the new rules, it became much more unfair for him since he couldn't use his strongest Element and his strongest Spells!

Instead, he had to rely on the Elements that he couldn't boost with his Grimoire! With the new set of Rules, the Trial on the 99th floor became much more complicated for him.

He had to defeat Novius with an element that he had just awakened! And he had to defeat Cylix with the Element of Light that he was master of! It was like his challenge was that he had to burn the God of Fire using fire!

"Scared?" Cylix asked, seeing hesitation on Gabriel's face. "You know, if you're scared, you can leave this tower and come back when you're stronger."

Since he was sure that Gabriel wasn't going to leave the tower, he tried to use Gabriel's self-confidence and dignity to provoke him into accepting this deal. They didn't want him to think that they were doing a favor on him by teaching him.

"Yeah, if you don't have faith in your skills, we won't force you." Novius also understood what Cylix was trying to do. He played along as well.

"I suppose I can't take his help either?" Gabriel asked, glancing back at the Infernal King.

"You can't." Cylix shook his head. "You can only use your own strength to fight us."

Gabriel knew just how impossible this challenge was, but could he do anything else? He couldn't force his way to the hundredth floor. Due to the restrictions of this hall, he couldn't even fight here. He had to do things by the rules, even if the rules made things unfair for him.

"I can take as much time as I need to learn your spells? And you'll teach me every single spell you know without keeping the strongest for yourself?" he asked.

Even though he had a disadvantage in fighting by their rules, he also had an advantage. If he could learn all their spells, it was quite good for his future, even if he lost.

Moreover, if he knew all their spells, he could learn all their strengths and weaknesses to make a proper plan on how to defeat them. So there was still a chance for success. As long as there was no cheating.

"We will teach you every single thing we know without holding anything back!" Cylix accepted.

"So, do you accept the challenge?" Novius asked. "Master our Elements and defeat us using them!"

Master the Elements to win against the experts of those Elements... That was the challenge that Gabriel was given if he wanted to clear the 99th Floor.

The challenge also came with more restrictions than just the one about using a specific element. Another restriction placed on him was that he couldn't take anyone's help. He was allowed to use a Numen, but only one! It didn't matter how many Numens he possessed, but he could only select and use one in the battle.

Other than these restrictions, there was not much that was placed on him. There wasn't anything related to how much time he could take. It all depended on him. He could take one month to learn, or he could train for years. It was all on his capabilities.

Initially, Cylix and Novius were in a hurry for this battle, but not anymore. Since they had decided to take Gabriel as their disciple indirectly, they wanted to make sure that he learned everything that they had to offer. It was going to be the last time they will see him after all.

They weren't going to have any other opportunity to teach him such things.

"Do you accept, or will you leave?" Novius offered a choice that wasn't much of a choice.

Gabriel observed the Staff of Darkness lying near his feet. He had a treasure that he could only use if he learned more about that Element.

"I accept the Challenge of yours." After a brief pause, Gabriel accepted the challenge. "I will defeat you with your own elements."

If someone from outside had seen him make that promise here, they would've considered him crazy! He really thought he could defeat the Two Founders of the Academy? Even though it was the younger avatar of the Founders, they were still very powerful around that time... Possibly one of the strongest Mages, comparable to the Holy Priests at that time.

They couldn't compare to the Holy Priests in terms of magical strength as they didn't have the Holy Grimoires to support them around their time, but they made up for that lack of raw strength with their immense trove of Knowledge. They only grew stronger after leaving the tower.

Cylix smirked, getting confirmation from Gabriel. Even though he expected this answer, he was still quite pleased with the answer.

Lira was sitting in the forest near a pond. Her face still looked pale, as if there was not even a single drop of blood in her body. Her lips had a cut that she could've healed, but she didn't. She just looked at her pale reflection in the water, thinking about the past.

Whatever happened in the Prison of Darkness was like a dream. Even now, she had a hard time believing that a novice mage could fight back against her so well and even hurt her so much.

"The power of Origin Element..." she muttered, clenching her fists so tight that her nails were stabbing her skin, making her bleed even more.

She had heard Lambard mention the Origin Element. She didn't place much importance on that. For her, Origin Element just meant it was the first Element to appear in this world... The Element of Life and Death... However, only now she understood that maybe that wasn't the only special thing about the Origin Element.

The Element hadn't appeared even once in this world after Karyk had been killed as if it didn't consider anyone worthy to inherit the element... Until now.

That Element was too bizarre, even for her. Even inside her own Grimoire, the Origin Element was able to hurt her... The Element was certainly very scary.

She placed her hand in the water, letting her blood enter the pure water, cleaning her hand.

"It would've been so good if we could've worked together... My Knowledge and Darkness... And your Origin Element with the raw strength. Unfortunately, you chose to double cross me... You deserved that death!"

She still considered that Gabriel had been killed as she didn't know better. She had inflicted his soul with his Darkness. There was no way for him to survive that and escape. Even the last attack of his that hurt her so much, she considered it to be the last attack of Gabriel before his death.

There was no way for her to confirm if he was alive either. In her eyes, Gabriel had been killed inside her Grimoire, and now that the soul was destroyed, there was no way to check.

Even her Ancestral Staff of Darkness had lost connection as if it went to sleep once again like it had been sleeping for centuries.

The staff had awakened when resisting Gabriel's control which established a better yet momentary connection with Lira, who was the present heir of Darkness. However, now that Gabriel had binded the Ancestral Staff of Darkness with him, the staff again lost its connection with Lira and this time for the better.

She couldn't sense the Staff now, which made her think that it had once again gone to sleep.

"The Ancestral Staff is asleep, and Gabriel is dead. Is there a way for me to get to it now? I don't even know where he kept it..."

"Since he said I can't get to it, as it's even more secure, that only makes me think that it's still in the Academy somewhere..."

"Is that in his room that was assigned to him in the Academy?" She wondered but rejected her own suggestion. "No. If they already knew that the Museum had been robbed, keeping the items in his room would be stupid. Or is it?"

Lira knew that sometimes the most obvious places were also the best places to hide something important. Could it be that Gabriel actually did it? Even if it wasn't in his room, it was still somewhere inside the Academy.

Unfortunately, her problem was still the same as before. She couldn't enter Lumen City without getting marked by the Barrier. When that happened, all the Holy Priests who were still in the City were going to be after her.

No matter what, getting to the Ancestral Staff of Darkness was very important for her. If there was one person who could help her in finding out the exact whereabouts of the Ancestral Staff of Darkness, it was Lambard!

Lambard found it hard to retrieve items from the Museum of Elements, but it was different if the items were kept in the room of Gabriel.

She washed her face with the cold water before standing up. She climbed back on her horse and left for the City of Abadon.

Gabriel started his training on the 99th floor inside the Tower of Challenges, unaware as to how many people were actually waiting for him outside.

As he went into the training that had the potential to last months, the entire Academy had come to a halt. No classes were conducted in the Academy, as it wasn't considered safe until Gabriel was out of the tower and caught.

Unfortunately, the wait for him was also making them consume a lot of resources that were getting too much even for them.

The academy had a defensive formation that sealed the entire space in the academy, effectively placing it on lockdown. It wasn't easy to keep it running as that formation consumed a lot of Spirit Energy.

Each second that the Formation was active, it was consuming thousands of Spirit Crystals. Initially, it was still fine as Gabriel was on the 99th floor, and everyone expected Gabriel to be out soon, but even the teachers started getting restless as hours turned to days and days turned to weeks.

Gabriel had been on the 99th floor for close to two weeks now. His name hadn't moved up, but he wasn't out either.

The Spirit Crystals were already very rare and expensive in the world, and the Academy had been using them for two weeks, waiting for Gabriel to come out.

They had thought about stopping the formation many times, not each time they delayed it by a few hours, thinking that Gabriel was going to be out soon, but that wasn't happening.

Moreover, in close to two weeks, they hadn't felt any dark aura like before.

"How long? At this point, I've lost hope. It doesn't look like he'll be coming out," Yoan commented. Two weeks had been more than enough for him to believe that it was over.

"At the spell with which he was climbing the tower, even he shouldn't have taken two weeks on the 99th Floor. Either he should've been defeated and out of the tower, or he should've moved to the next Floor. The only other result that can justify something like that is his death," he further expressed.

For him, it made more sense that Gabriel was dead inside the tower. Even if a person died inside the tower, their name was going to show the highest floor they had managed to climb before their death. In Gabriel's case, it was the 99th floor.

"I agree. It makes sense that he would be dead. Two weeks are more than enough time to either be defeated or clear the floor." Xinci agreed with Yoan, which wasn't often. "I think we are wasting our resources in the lockdown for no reason now. He isn't coming out."

Their words made sense for the most part, and even Eliana understood that. The Ninety-ninth floor wasn't supposed to be a picnic destination where someone could stay for two weeks. The name was stuck there and didn't look like it was going to move.

"I think it's quite possible as well," Lishen stated. "Remember the dark aura that we felt, which hurt so many of our students? What do you think would have forced Gabriel to use this? It could only be that he was fighting someone in the 99th Floor trial to clear the floor."

"If I'm not wrong, he lost that fight and died there. If not, why haven't we sensed that aura again? If he had won that battle, he would've been on the hundredth Floor over a week ago. But that's not the case. That can only mean that he didn't win."

After one person presented the assumption, it managed to convince everyone with time. The more they thought about it, the more it made sense to them.

Gabriel seemed to be dead... At least, that's what all things and this strange silence for weeks pointed at.

Eliana still stared at the name. The assumptions made sense to her, but she didn't know why; she couldn't get herself to believe that Gabriel was dead. Still, he had to place her own beliefs aside and think about the Academy.

They couldn't burn the Spirit Stones for an eternity if Gabriel was actually dead. She needed to think about the future of the Academy as well.

"Alright," she eventually agreed. She glanced at one of the teachers in the distance. "Shut the formation down for now."

Not only did she agree to close the sealing formation, but she also agreed to unseal the academy. All the students were allowed to come out of their Dorms once again. However, she still didn't take back all the precautions.

She placed a one month ban on the Tower of Challenges. For the next one month, no one was going to come even close to the Tower of Challenges. Even if they believed that Gabriel was dead, she wanted to be absolutely sure of that.

They needed to observe the Tower for one more month and if Gabriel still didn't come out, or his name didn't make any movement, only then was she going to be convinced that Gabriel was dead.

For the next two months, she assigned the duty of all the Head Council Members near the Tower. At every moment in time, there were going to be two Head Council Members before the Tower, keeping an eye on it and waiting for Gabriel. That was supposed to last for a month as well.

It was done so that if Gabriel actually came out, they could delay him until the sealing formation could be activated again at a moment's notice.

While the Academy considered Gabriel to be dead, Gabriel was actually still immersed in his training.

Since he was a Novice in the Element of Darkness, having no idea about it at all, his training began with the basics of Darkness.

On the other hand, he already had the Element of Light some time and knew some spells, so Cylix had a much easier time in trying to teach him.

Every day, Gabriel had two classes. During the first half of the day, he was taught by Cylix, who taught him the versatile spells of Lights, including the high-tier flight spell.

In the second half of the day, Novius taught him the powerful spells of Darkness.

Not only was Gabriel taught to use the spells of Darkness, but he was also taught how to properly utilize the Ancestral Staff of Darkness in battles.

He was taught that the Ancestral Staff of Darkness wasn't just a staff that amplified the strength of a spell. It was much more than that.

In the blink of an eye, two weeks had passed, and Gabriel had improved by leaps and bounds, but not enough.

At the moment, he was resting in the hall. He had just finished an intense training session with Novius and needed proper rest.

Even though it was called a Training Session, his condition was saying otherwise. Gabriel had multiple wounds on his body, and his clothes also seemed to be covered in dirt.

He placed his hand on his chest and used the Element of Light. "Holy Heal."

Thanks to Cylix, he had managed to learn an even higher tier healing spell of Light than his Minor Heal.

The Healing Spell not only healed Gabriel's body but also relieved some of his fatigue. Still, it couldn't stop his hunger.

Fortunately, Novius heard the growling of Gabriel's stomach. He brought some food for Gabriel. "Tired?"

"Not enough," Gabriel answered as he took the plate from Novius' hands. However, just as he was about to walk back, he thought of something.

His feet stopped in place. He had been wondering about a question for a long time, having no answers. He wondered if Cylix and Novius knew anything about it.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Do you even need permission for that?" Cylix laughed. They had been training the little guy for two weeks, and he still needed permission to ask them questions?

"Do you know anything about the Orbs of Time?" Gabriel placed his question before the two Founders.

"Orbs of Time?" Hearing the name, the two Founders seemed quite taken aback. Their expressions turned grim. "How do you know about that?"

Even though Gabriel asked Cylix and Novius about the Orb of Time, even he hadn't expected such an extreme reaction from them. It was as if he had asked them about some great devil or something.

It wasn't just the shock that he could see on his face which surprised him. He was sure that they definitely knew something about it.

"I heard someone mention that name before." Gabriel didn't know why, but he decided against telling Cylix and Novius that he possessed one of the two Orbs of a Times. He felt uncomfortable telling them.

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The Orbs were kept in the treasures of the Royal Academy of Elements, but from what he was told, the wooden box was received by the Academy not too long ago. It definitely was much after the time that last person managed to reach the ninety-ninth floor.

And even if they could, they wouldn't have known that the Academy had Orbs of Time. Even the Academy couldn't open the box to see what was inside.

There was no way that anyone here was going to know that the Orb of Time was amongst the Numens that he had stolen from the Academy. It was also a good thing that the Orb wasn't something he brought out yet.

He felt that it was much safer to keep this a secret. Even Lelin possibly didn't know that there were two Orbs. That's why he left without looking for the second orb. According to him, Lelin wouldn't have known that he had one as well.

"Who mentioned it?" Cylix asked grimly. "Is there news about the Orbs? Have they been found?"

Just from the tone of Cylix, Gabriel could feel just how serious they were. But why? They were already dead. Why would they be concerned about the Orbs?

Gabriel nodded in response. "I heard that there is a person who found them. A Mage of Light known as Lelin."

He didn't talk about him holding one, but he could definitely speak about Lelin, and he wouldn't be lying. He was just holding back some important bits of information.

Receiving Gabriel's confirmation, Cylix's face turned dark. Novius' reaction wasn't much different either.

They both looked at each other.

"Death needs life to exist..." Novius muttered.

"And Life needs death to hold value," Cylix continued as if they were speaking the same yet fragmented statement. "But time..."

"Time shatters all rules..." Novius finished Cylix's sentence as he started walking back toward his throne, lost in thought. "If the Orb of Time has been found again... Things are worse than we could have expected."

It didn't even look like he was talking to Gabriel anymore. Instead, he was talking to himself at this point.

Novius placed his hand on the armrest of the throne as he spoke something which was entirely inaudible to Gabriel.

Cylix also placed back and forth as if thinking of something.

'Time breaks all rules...? What did they mean? Why do they look so worried? Just what is it about these Orbs? Why was Lelin only after them instead of other Numens? And their reactions...'

Gabriel didn't know the importance of the Orb of Time, but with time, he was realizing that there was more to what met the eye.

Firstly, out of all the treasures, a person only selected this one seemingly ordinary crystal Sphere. As if that wasn't odd in itself, as soon as he touched the Black Orb of Time, he saw some incredible flashes of time.

On top of that, there was the dream in which he came to know that Karyk had taken the Orb of Time from some temple?

It was unclear what that Temple was, but if that Temple tried to threaten Karyk to return the Orbs of Time, then it couldn't be any weaker either. If that mysterious Temple was weak, it would've been like courting death for them to threaten Karyk.

He was already very intrigued about the Spheres of Time, but now this? Cylix and Novius' reactions affected him the most. These people didn't exist in Karyk's time. Moreover, they didn't even know about the Origin Element. For them, it was just a new element.

It was clear that when it came to their knowledge about Karyk and his past, then it was almost nil. They didn't exist at that time either. So how did they know about the Sphere of Time?

'Unless someone still existed in their time who was looking for the Orbs as well...' Gabriel frowned, thinking of something. 'Someone like that Temple!'

"What is this Orb of Time?" he repeated the question once again. "And why are you both so concerned over it!"

"We are concerned about it because we know what the discovery of the Orb of Time means!" Novius exclaimed, turning around to finally face Gabriel again.

"For a long time, the Orbs of Time were lost." Cylix let out a deep sigh as he walked back to the throne as well. He sat on his head, seemingly quite tired.

"No one knew where they were or who held them. Wherever they were, they couldn't be sensed by anyone, so things were quite peaceful. It was as if they were swallowed by the Deepest Pits of Earth!" Novius also sat down, holding his head in his hands, closing his eyes. "However, they have once again been discovered!"

"If the Orbs are out, that means the people who were looking for them will also return... They will also return..."

"They?" Gabriel asked, puzzled. Was Novius talking about who he thought they were talking about?

Novius didn't answer right away. He wasn't sure if he should tell Gabriel all this or not.

"Should we tell him?" he asked Cylix. "Or should we wait until he is ready after completing the training?"

They didn't want to scare Gabriel at the moment by overwhelming his head with all this information. He already had enough troubles as it was. If they overwhelmed him with even more, then it could affect his training.

Even Cylix was slightly hesitant. Gabriel was still very going. His worldview was already very limiting, and even in that small worldview, he was already against so many people. Placing more on his shoulder certainly didn't feel right.

However, after some thinking, he decided to do it. "We should. He would know sooner or later. He needs to be ready for it since he'll be in the middle of it all. However, things couldn't be worse..."

Cylix gazed at Gabriel, prepared to tell him. He took a brief pause before four words came out of his mouth. "The Temple of Time…"

"The Temple of Time?" Gabriel repeated. It was his first time hearing about something like that, but he certainly found it intriguing that the Temple also had a reference to 'Time' in their name, like the Orbs of a Time.

If he were to guess based on the name itself, he would've been sure that the Temple had something to do with 'Time' but at the same time, it didn't make sense. They couldn't be like the Churches of Elements. All the Elements that the Churches were named after... They were indeed elements that were inherited by people.

He was sure there was no Element of Time. Even Lambard had confirmed before that there were only a limited number of Elements, and all but one of them had been prominent in this world.

"What is that?" he asked to get a clarification. "And why were they unknown by most of the world?"

"They weren't unknown in our time... At least not initially. Everyone who had even the slightest bit of knowledge about the World knew about them. They were like the Ghosts of this World," Cylix answered before further clarifying what he meant by that. "Everyone knew that they existed, but no one knew who they were or where they were situated."

As he talked about the Temple of Time, he couldn't help but remember his own interaction with them. He was only fifteen years old at that time and hadn't even awakened his Element of Light.

"It feels like it was just yesterday when I saw them..." he muttered.

p *

[Years ago]

The City of Roise was full of life as many influencing, and wealthy people had arrived in the city from all over the country.

A carriage moved closer to the city, supporting the Insignia of the Hale Merchant Group. It was one of the most well known merchant organizations in the country, which had its business spread in many major cities.

Inside the luxurious green carriage, a middle-aged man was sitting quite comfortably.

The dark haired middle aged man was none other than the Owner of Hale Merchant Union, Bastion Hale. Bastion was holding onto some papers, going through them.

Right in front of him, there sat a young boy who appeared to be fifteen years old. The young boy also had a darker shade of hair, just like the middle-aged man. However, unlike Bastion, the young boy was looking quite bored.

"Father, did we really have to come here ourselves? What's even so special about this auction? It's just some stupid items!" The young boy exclaimed.

He seemed quite frustrated that they had to come here. He was also upset that he was forced to come with his father since his father wanted him to start taking an interest in the family business from an early age.

Bastion kept the papers down, raising his eyes to focus on the young boy.

"Cylix, do you really think the entire country would be talking about this if it was just a bunch of stupid items?" The middle man asked, smiling. "This isn't a normal Auction as many important Artifacts are going to be sold there. Of course, we also need to get our hands in the action as well."

"Even if we can't buy anything, it would still be a good experience to see these things from closer and to know more about them. That's why I also brought you with me," he explained as he glanced out the window.

Their carriage had already entered the city, which was under heavy security because of the big event that was taking place.

"I still can't believe they managed to find it," he glanced at the piece of paper before him.

The paper contained a list of all the items that were going to be sold in the Auction. It was a list that was sent to all the potential buyers throughout the country.

Even though the Merchant Union that was holding this auction was a competition of Bastion's Merchant Union, he was still impressed at their ability to find these items that even he failed to find.

"The Items that were only mentioned in the Myths and legends... Even I had lost hope and started doubting their existence. I am sure we are going to see some big spending in the auction."

The carriage didn't take long to reach the Auction Hall after gaining an entrance into the city. There was also no obstruction along the way other than the basic checking to see how many people were inside the carriages since each person who received an invitation was only allowed to bring one person with them.

Bastion's carriage driver opened the door for him after stopping the carriage before the Auction Hall. Bastion stepped out as well, leaving the papers behind. He only carried the invitation with him.

Cylix also stepped out after his father, but not before taking a glance at the name on the list his father was reading.

"Mythical Orbs of Time."

His father showed the invitation to the powerful mages that were hired to protect the place. After verifying the invitation, the guards allowed Bastion and Cylix to enter.

"They definitely spent quite a lot of money in arranging all this. They even hired Advanced Mages for security." Bastion seemed a bit impressed at all the arrangements. "I'm sure they would recover more than they are investing with this auction."

By now, most of the guards were already inside the Hall, in their seats.

"Ah, Bastion... You came. I didn't expect you to accept the invitation." A middle-aged man noticed Bastion from a distance. She walked to Bastion, laughing. "I see you brought your son as well."

"Jill, I see you're quite happy today."

"Hahaha, don't tell me you wouldn't be happy if it were your merchant union holding this auction instead of mine?" Jill smirked. She had competed with Bastion all her life to make her Merchant Union the top in the country. And with this auction, she was sure she had achieved that goal. She couldn't be any happier.

"Anyway, I've saved one of the best seats in the Hall for you. Come..."

After all the Guests were inside the city, the Auction Hall was closed, and no one else was allowed to enter. However, when one door closed, another one opened... A door that didn't belong to the Auction House.

Outside the city, a strange door suddenly appeared in the middle of nowhere, out of thin air, accompanied by a peculiar aura.

Spatial cracks started developing around the mysterious door as if the door was breaking the boundaries of space just to exist in this place…

A beautiful golden door appeared not too far from the city entrance, which seemed to be made from the purest gold.

There were no carvings on the door, except one... A black mark could be seen in the middle of the door, creating a shape that seemed awfully similar to an hourglass.

The door slowly started opening. Even though there was nothing on either side of the door, after it opened, an entirely different scene could be seen through the door.

A young man could be seen on the other end of the door. It looked as if the man was standing in a dark room which was connected to this place. The dark room made it hard to properly see the face of the young man.

,m Even the light of this world couldn't brighten the room in which the young man was standing.

The man stepped through the door, landing on the ground outside the city. It was only when the man stepped through the door and into this place that his face was clearly visible.

Pale face... That was the first noticeable thing about the man. His skin was so pale, as if he didn't have a single drop of blood in his entire body. In fact, his skin complimented his long silver hair that came down to his waist all too well.

Another peculiar thing about him was his blood-red eyes that were like the blood moon itself. The man was slightly over six feet tall and looked to be in his mid-twenties.

The young man was dressed in all black, wearing black pants and a black medieval coat that wrapped around his chest tightly. The coat also had a shoulder plate on each side which didn't look odd for some reason.

Around the neck of the man, there was a pendant that had a blood-red gem attached to it. The man hadn't spoken anything even after coming out of the door. However, his silence only made him look even more severe.

The man didn't start moving. It was as if he was waiting for someone. He glanced back at the door.

Only a few seconds had passed before another person stepped out of the door as well.

It was a woman who came out this time. She also had similarly pale skin and long silver hair, but her eyes were different from the man's. Her eyes were also a lighter shade of silver like her hair. The color of her eyes made it look like the woman couldn't see anything, but her vision was perfect.

Her attire was quite similar to the man, but not entirely. Hers looked like it had been properly made for a woman, with some changes. Despite the chances, if one thing was the same, it was the red pendant around her neck.

After the two stepped through the door, the mysterious door closed on its own, but it didn't disappear. It stayed in its place as if waiting for their return.

"Is this the right place?" The woman asked, glancing at the city.

The man nodded.

"The place which is rumored to hold it."

The man's voice was very heavy, having something strangely alluring about it.

"After so long, we will finally get it back..." the woman commented as the group of two started advancing toward the city.

"As long as he lived, we couldn't get it back. Even after his death, it became impossible for us to find it..." The silver-haired man let out, glancing at the bright sky that made him look even paler.

He reached the entrance of the city. However, before the guards could even approach him, the man snapped his fingers, not intending to deal with the guards. The pendant around his neck shone for a brief moment before returning to its usual state.

All the guards that were at the entrance of the city froze in their place, unable to move. It was as if they had become living statues.

The young man known as Vienn and the woman known as Jia walked inside the city with ease, having no one to stop them.

"Not anymore!" Vienn said as he walked past the frozen guards. "We have waited for so long for a single clue about this. We won't let anyone interfere!"

Vienn and Jia entered the city and went straight to the center of the city. The Temple of Time had been waiting for a long time for a single clue about the Orbs of Time, and now that they had a clue, they weren't going to let it go.

Vienn reached the entrance of the Auction Hall, noticing more guards there. This time, the guards were two Advanced Grade Mages, both having the Element of Light.

The two Mages also sensed something wrong. They didn't know why, but they felt threatened just by the sheer aura of Vienn and Jia. But before they could even do anything, Jia appeared behind the two Guards, disappearing from her original place.

Her hands stabbed inside the back of the two Advanced Grade Mages, getting a hold of their hearts. She ruthlessly crushed their hearts before bringing out her blood-covered hands.

She placed those same bloody hands on the Auction Hall doors and pushed the door open.

Amidst the shocked gasps of the people in the Hall, a man and a woman walked toward the stage, one of them having her hands covered in blood which was dripping on the wooden floor.

The Auction had just started, and the first item wasn't even sold when such an interruption appeared.

Even though there were two Advanced Stage Mages at the entrance of the Hall, that wasn't the extent of the security of this place. There were more Mages even inside the Hall since the most precious items were kept inside.

All the Mages rushed out to stop the intruders. Unfortunately, they were like meat on the chopping board for Vienn, who didn't even take them seriously.

The faster these mages came to stop Vienn and Jia, the faster they died.

It was Cylix's first time seeing these people. He was horrified at the same time as amazed at the strength of these two people! These two were like the Gods walking amongst men!

"That was my first time seeing them. The day I saw gods..."

Cylix explained, coming out of his reminiscence. It was a scene that he didn't believe he could ever forget since that was also the first time he had seen a person being killed.

He was from an affluent family and was kept away from all the conflicts. He lived in a world where he never saw a person being killed, so the first time he did, it had a huge impact on him. Especially since the ones who were killed weren't ordinary humans. High Ranking Mages were killed like ants.

"They had come to take the Orb of Time that was being auctioned in the place," he told Gabriel.

Gabriel was slightly intrigued about this. The time that Cylix was talking about was definitely centuries after the era of gods. It was most probably the era in which centuries had passed since Karyk and other gods had died.

That meant the Temple of Gods still existed in this aura. But what didn't make sense was how these Orbs ended up at the Academy of Elements. If the Orbs were being auctioned and were taken by the Temple, they should've had this. Unless someone stole these Orbs again? But that would've been too much of a coincidence.

"So they got the Orbs of Time in the auction?" Gabriel inquired to understand the situation better.

Cylix shook his head. "They couldn't."

"They were stopped? By whom?" This was interesting for Gabriel. So someone managed to stop the Temple of Gods from getting the Orbs again?

The Temple of Gods was able to kill the Advanced Mages easily. Even Head Priests of Churches would've had a hard time before them. That narrowed down the choices too much for him to guess.

"A Holy Priest was there?" he asked.

"No. There were no Holy Priests there. Moreover, the Temple couldn't get the Orb of Time, not because they were stopped by a stronger force," Cylix responded.

"Then why?" Gabriel frowned. "Why didn't they get it?"

"Because they couldn't get what wasn't there in the first place," Cylix answered before explaining further. "The Merchant Union was holding an auction. They had spread news about this auction everywhere, especially mentioning an item in the list of items that were going to be auctioned."

"The Item was the Orbs of Time that was mentioned in a few myths and books. No one had seen what these Orbs actually did or other such things. Even the description of the orbs wasn't complete. The auction house tried to take advantage of this situation and created a fake item..."

"Since no one knew what these things were, no one could guess that the Orbs of Time that were being sold were fake. They were something created by the Auction House to create some hype and to fool the people. Unfortunately, even they didn't expect that this false news would reach the Temple of Time."

"The news about the discovery of the Orbs of Time reached even the Temple. After hundreds of years of silence, the Temple finally made a return for this Auction. Unfortunately for the Auction House, if there was someone who could know the difference between true and fake, it was the Temple of Time."

"The auction house couldn't fool them. As soon as the people from the Temple saw the orbs being auctioned, they were infuriated at being fooled. They killed the people that were holding the auction and more."

These memories were still refresh in Cylix's head. He could still hear the painful screams of people who were killed that day.

His gaze lowered, resting on his left wrist. He could still feel how firmly his father held his wrist as he tried to bring him to safety. His fists clenched at the memories of weakness and helplessness.

Even though he and his father managed to escape that place safely, the feeling of weakness was something he still couldn't forget.

That was the day a desire to become stronger awakened in his heart.

"That was the day that restarted a vicious cycle. Many people died during those times, weak and strong. Royal Families were wiped out, Kingdoms destroyed, all in search for these Orbs," Novius chimed in.

"The Churches didn't stop them?" Gabriel grimaced. Was the Temple so strong that even the Holy Priests couldn't stop them?

"If only it were that easy..." Cylix and Novius knew just what a nightmare the Temple of Time was for them.

It was something that the world hadn't seen before... At least, according to them. Before their time, there was no information about the Temple of Time in their history books, similar to how there was no mention of Karyk.

It was only when the Temple of Time first made an appearance around that time that the information about them started spreading. However, the information didn't spread amongst the common people.

The influential people made sure that the news didn't spread amongst the common people as they didn't want fear to spread among the commoners. The news about the Temple of Time was kept in the upper echelon.

"They tried to stop the Temple of Time. Unfortunately, it was quite hard. They didn't have any information on the Temple of Time. They didn't know where the Temple was established or where these people came from. Without that information, finding them was almost impossible," Novius clarified.

"All we knew was that wherever those people appeared, only death and bloodshed followed. Royals were killed, Kingdoms were destroyed, all in the search for the Orbs of Time which were reignited thanks to the Auction!"

"For the next three years, the search continued, only intensifying," Cylix stated. "However, after three years of bloodshed, death, and destruction, the Temple once again went into oblivion, never to be heard again."

"But now... Now that the Orbs have appeared again, that can only mean one thing... They would come as well... They will come for the Orbs of Time... And if they come, you'll be in danger…."

"They searched all places they were suspicious of in those three years but still found nothing," Novius commented. "Eventually, they again stopped their blind search. Whoever hid the Orbs of Time from them did some thorough work to make sure they couldn't sense it."

"Unfortunately, the Orbs are out in the open now..." he frowned. "That means they can be sensed again. And if they can, that can only mean one thing... The return of the Temple of Time!"

"Even if they return, why do you say that I'll be in danger?" Gabriel hadn't told them that he had the Orb of Time. Instead, he told them that someone else had them. Then why did they say he was going to be in danger? What did he have to do with the Temple of Time?

The only link he could think of was through Karyk. Karyk took the Orbs of Time from the Temple, and those people probably hated him. Could it be why he was at risk? Then again, Novius and Cylix shouldn't know that.

Novius and Cylix didn't know much about his Element or who stole the Orbs of Time. Then what made them link him with danger? Did they know he was lying about the Orbs and that he had one?

"Because you're the exception..." Cylix glanced at the right hand of Gabriel. "You-"

"I think that's enough." As Cylix was speaking, Novius intervened, stopping him from talking too much. "It's time to get back to training."

He clapped his hand, taking Gabriel with him to the training arena again to practice spells. Since the outside world was going to go through even more change, he needed to focus even more on his training.

"Wait! What exception?!" Gabriel asked, but he was too late. They were already in the training domain, and Cylix wasn't here.

"What did he mean I am an exception? What dangers?" he directed his question to Novius instead.

"Will tell you before you leave. But first, focus on training!"

Cylix watched Gabriel's training start again from the main hall. His face was slightly dark, thinking about the possible future.

He raised his head, glancing toward the roof. "If he reaches there..."

The Church of Water had joined up with the Church of Lightning in surrounding the city of Abandon, which was ruled by Lambard.

The Church of Light had also joined the group this time, even in the absence of their Holy Priest. At the moment, no one was allowed to enter or leave the city of Abandon.

One Church alone was enough to trouble Lambard, but when it came to three of them simultaneously working together, then it was a headache even for him. The only positive in all this that was still working for him was that even the Churches didn't dare to enter the City of Abadon.

If it were any ordinary City, the city would've been razed to the ground by now. However, the city of Abandon was different. It wasn't just an ordinary City. Instead, it was a living City! It was a Numen, also known as the most secure City in the world, which wasn't just a city but also a Weapon!

Even the Churches didn't want to fight inside the city without being fully prepared.

At the moment, Elora was standing with the Holy Priestess of the Church of Lightning, having a clear view of the city of Abadon.

"It's as if he knew we were coming... He has increased defenses of his city," the Head of the Church of Lightning Thalia spoke, standing tall.

Thalia was slightly taller than Elora, and her attire also made her look more like a Warrior than a Princess. She had beautiful blonde hair, looking closer to the flash of lightning. Her beautiful green eyes were in stark contrast with the deep blue eyes of Elora.

Elora also agreed with Thalia. Even though she took some time in telling Thalia about the return of the Church of Darkness and in convincing her, that much time shouldn't have been enough for the city to be this prepared.

It looked less like the last-minute preparation and more like something they had prepared in advance.

"It's as if they were expecting us," Elora stated as her grasp around her Ancestral Staff tightened.

This made her convinced that Lambard had something to do with what happened in the Royal Academy of Elements! That also meant he knew about the Church of Darkness.

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She initially wanted to have a good relationship with Lambard since she needed his ring, but that went out the door now, along with every other deal. Now she wanted nothing more than to kill Lambard and the Dark Mage now since they both had a hand in the death of Ruyi.

"In a few more days, more of my people will be here. With reinforcements, we will attack the city. It's finally the time we remove all remnants of the existence of this cursed city from this world!" Thalia exclaimed.

She initially didn't believe Elora when she informed her about the return of the Holy Priest of Darkness. In fact, she even refused to work with her since she didn't believe it.

However, as luck would have it, it was around that time when Gabriel's aura covered the entire world for a moment! The aura of his was tainted in death and darkness. No ordinary person could have that aura.

,m That aura was what gave Thalia the final push and convinced her of the merits of Elora's suggestions, finally getting her to agree.

If the Holy Priest of Darkness could have an aura like this after receiving the Ancestral Staff of Darkness, then his strength definitely wasn't weak. They certainly couldn't allow him to become stronger than before.

They had to kill that person, and they had to do it before he could have time to attack them. Thalia was a warrior whose entire logic was that offense was the best defense. And she was ready for the biggest offense of her life! A battle with the Lord of Numens, Lambard, who had even managed to survive the assault of the Church of Light last time!

Lambard was standing on the roof of his castle, looking in a specific direction in the distance.

There was too much distance between him and the Holy Priests, but still, he was able to see Elora and Thalia clearly. He looked quite upset, standing with his hands behind his back.

It hadn't been long since Elora and Thalia were in the city to take part in the Auction, and now they were here again. However, this time they weren't here for anything good. It was evident that they were here to attack him.

A maid stood right beside Lambard, looking in the same direction. Even though she was also very special, even she couldn't see Thalia and Elora clearly as she didn't have the Numen, which was helping improve Lambard's vision.

"They are waiting for more forces. It looks like they are really determined this time," the maid commented, being able to guess just why these people were waiting.

"They know we won't be able to attack them. They can certainly afford to take the time they need," Lambard asserted. The city was one of his most powerful Numens, but it was a defensive Numen.

All the defense mechanisms were such that it couldn't attack anyone unless they were attacked first. The Churches knew about this. They knew that Lambard wasn't someone who could attack first, as his offensive power was quite weak when he came out of his city.

If he was a Warlord inside the city, then he was only a decent warrior outside. That's also why he rarely left the city. He had Numens that could be used to attack as well, but even they weren't strong enough to help him against such a force. That's also one of the reasons he wanted the Eye of Osiris that was kept at the Academy of Elements.

He only told Gabriel that he wanted the Eye of Osiris because he was interested in learning about the history through it, but even he didn't tell Gabriel one thing. His true goal wasn't just to learn about the history. His true aim was to use the history to his advantage.

He was called the Lord of Numens, but even he knew that he didn't have enough Numens. Only a fraction of all the Numens had been found, and amongst the ones that weren't discovered yet, there were some really powerful Numens.

He wanted more powerful Numens! He wanted something that was on the same level as the City of Abandon but on the offensive side. He wanted a powerful Numen that didn't restrict him to a place, and there were definitely many. He just needed to know where they were.

The best way to find those Numens was by going through their history. He wanted to use the Eye of Osiris to see through the past of the Demigods to find out where they died. If anything, that was also the place where he could find their Numens.

That's also why he was collecting any random item he could related to the Demigods, as he could use their essence to look at their lives and find the secrets that were unknown so far.

The Eye of Osiris was very important to him. That's also why he couldn't ignore the allure of receiving the eye of Osiris, even though it meant he was going to be offending many people by going through with the plan if he found it.

The greed of these items was too much for him. However, only now was he waking up from that greed. Not only did he not receive the Eye of Osiris, but instead, he received the wrath of these Churches, all thanks to Gabriel.

He was quite angry at Gabriel. All that guy had to do was steal the items and come to him, but instead, he went inside the Tower of Challenges.

"I don't understand one thing though." The maid had a question floating in her head for a long time. She had wanted to ask it even before, but she didn't want to look stupid since Lambard made it seem like it was too obvious.

Before these people even attacked, Lambard already knew that the attack was coming.

"What thing?" Lambard asked.

"Why are they attacking us? Just because we had a link with the person who went there to steal something? The Academy probably already caught Gabriel. They will most probably recover all the Numens as well. Then why is it that these people came here to attack us?" the maid asked.

"Don't they know that a lot of their own people will die as well? Why break the status quo that was established when we sent the Church of Light back over such a small thing?

"Because they are idiots!" Lambard exclaimed. "They think that the Church of Darkness has made a return and that they are in danger. They think I'm working with the Church of Darkness against them."

"Should we just tell them that they are wrong?" The maid asked.

Lambard couldn't help but shake his head in amusement. "Even if we told them now, do you think they'll believe us at this point? They want to remove all the threats, no matter how unlikely. There is only one way to send them back..."

"... By Crushing them!" He exclaimed. "I don't care how many they bring! I don't care what reinforcements they call! If they think they can kill me inside my own stronghold, then they're in for a surprise. They want a bloodbath... I'll give them a bloodbath!"

As Lambard made a declaration, lightning flashed in the sky, revealing his tall figure even more. There was a ring on each of his fingers, each having a different function. One of those rings was the Ring of Apophis that he had called back.

There also remained two pendants around his neck, each having a different gem attached to it. What was different was that this time Lambard was also wearing some earrings.

Even when Lira arrived here last time, Lambard hadn't been wearing as many Numens as he did now. It was as if he was completely prepared for a war that was on the horizon.

The world was tossed into chaos, all thanks to Gabriel and some of his ignorant decisions, which he took to the best of his thinking.

Unaware of the changes in the outside world, Gabriel was still on the Ninety-Ninth Floor, still going through his training.

He could feel that the pace of his training had increased, but he was still able to keep up with it. The spells that he got to learn were what kept him interested in learning them.

Each of those spells that he was taught was a powerful spell that had real-life uses. Even Novius and Cylix didn't teach him flashy yet useless spells.

They focused only on the essence of their spells. Gabriel was sure that even if he had learned from Eliana, even then his training wouldn't be this effortless. He was being taught the spells that were ancient... Some of those spells weren't even in the Spellbooks of the Academy, as they had been lost in time.

He was being taught such rare spells that would've made even the Teachers at the Academy jealous!

In his training, he again got distracted. He had tried to ask Cylix about the 'Exception' and what that meant, but after the initial time, Cylix didn't mention it again. It was as if he had learned his lesson and wasn't going to talk.

Gabriel could only place that thought in the back of his head for now and focus on his training wholeheartedly. He decided to ask one last time before it was his time to leave.

Another week passed. Gabriel hadn't been lazy for even one day during his weeks of training. In fact, even when he was tired, he was still eager to train as the feeling of learning more spells and getting stronger was great!

This was exactly how he thought his training would be when he was a little child. When he was young and hadn't awakened, he always used to think what his future was going to be like. He could never have thought that his future was going to be one where he was going to be one of the most hated people on earth.

However, there was one thing that he came quite close to. He used to think that when he was going to awaken his Element, he was going to get admission to the Academy of Elements.

He used to think that he was going to get a great teacher who was going to teach him powerful spells... The teacher who was going to treat him with care, help him when he needed and solve all his doubts.

Even though he didn't receive an opportunity to learn at the academy, he received something much better! He received an opportunity to learn straight from the source! He had the opportunity to learn straight from the people who founded the Academy of Elements.

Moreover, Cylix and Novius didn't have even the slightest bit of arrogance... At least not toward him. They taught him everything they knew without holding anything back. It didn't matter how many times he failed in casting a spell; they were always there for him, helping him improve his understanding of the spell and improve his techniques.

That wasn't all either. After his training for the day used to end, all three of them used to sit together where Cylix and Novius used to talk about the essence of their elements.

One could use a spell to utilize their element, but if one wanted to be able to create their own spells, they needed to have a better understanding of the essence of their elements, and that's where the extra Knowledge came in.

Even though Cylix and Novius didn't have to teach him about such extra things, they still didn't hold back as they actually started to think of him as their disciple.

A strange bond had formed between the three of them that was different from anything Gabriel had ever experienced before. However, despite feeling comfortable with them, Gabriel still held back a bit.

His heart was just accustomed to not opening for anyone anymore, and he wanted to keep it that way.

"Gabriel, what do you like about our world the most?" Cylix asked, lying on the soft grass.

Since they could create any training arena and manipulate the domains, they could create anything. They had created a scene where Gabriel felt most comfortable, based on his description.

They made a green grassland. As far as the eyes could see, there was only soft grass. And on top, there was a beautiful star-studded sky, which Gabriel often felt a connection with.

Gabriel was also lying in the grass, looking at the beautiful sky. He came to the Tower expecting a Challenge on every floor. At the time of entry, he had never expected that there was going to be a moment so peaceful inside the Tower. The Tower was really a work of art.

"What do I like the most in the world?" Gabriel repeated the question. "I don't have an answer to this question..."

If he had been asked this question before he awakened his Element, he would've had many answers. However, after Awakening his Element, he had seen the true reality of this world, which was often hidden behind a curtain of Light.

It was only when he walked in true darkness that he realized how corrupt the Light was...

It was only when he got his hands covered in blood that he realized what little value a life had.

All the bonds... All the relations... Nothing held value in this World. In this world, if even a mother could kill her son... Then was a friend?

Instead of answering the question, he changed the topic entirely, not wanting to think more about it.

He already knew that he wasn't going to get an answer now regarding the orbs of time, so he asked something else... Something which was a question that not just him but the entire world fretted over.

"Who created the Tower?"

"Who created the tower?"

It was another question that many people didn't have an answer to. Most people thought that the Tower of Challenges was created by the Academy of Element, but only a few knew that it wasn't the case. Even before the Academy was established, the Tower of Challenges had been here, standing tall.

No one even knew just how old this tower actually was in reality. If there was someone who could know, it was most probably Cylix and Novius, as they were claimed to be the founders. They were also the first people who entered the tower that were presently known.

"This tower?" Cylix asked to be clear since Gabriel didn't mention which tower he was talking about. There were a lot of towers in the world and even in the Academy.

"Yes." Gabriel nodded, still gazing at the beautiful sky. "The Tower of Challenges."

"That question is one even we don't know the answer to," Cylix confessed right away. Even when he was alive, he never tried to lie about it and take credit for it. He never told anyone that they were the ones who made it.

It was just that somehow this story kept spreading with the future generations of the Academy that the founders of the Academy created this tower.

As it only increased the prestige of the Academy, the future authorities didn't clear this rumor, and with time, the rumor took the place of the truth. At this point, it was impossible in the outside world to distinguish this lie from the reality.

"When we discovered the tower, it was the only existing structure in the barren land as far as the eyes could see. Even we were slightly curious about it, wondering who could've made a Tower in the middle of nowhere and why?" Novius chimed in.

He could remember it perfectly since, for them, it wasn't long ago. It was right before they had entered the tower and left a small part of their consciousness behind to protect this Tower.

"A tower in the middle of nowhere?"

As soon as Gabriel heard the description, he couldn't help but think of the tower he had seen in the dream before. The Tower inside which he was standing seemed to be in the middle of the sea, also matching this description.

Could it be that there was another Tower like this? If yes, then it meant that these Towers predated even Karyk's Timeline. No wonder Cylix and Novius didn't know who made it. If the towers were that old, it was impossible for them to know.

However, the question still remained the same. Who made these towers, and why in the middle of nowhere? One in the middle of the sea and one in the middle of a barren land?

Just how many more were there? And for what purpose were they made? Were they made by Karyk? Or the other gods? Or was it something of even more significance? Instead of his questions going down, they only increased at this point.

"If you want to know who made the Tower, you might need to get to the hundredth floor. If anything, that's the place where you'll get your answers. Even we don't know if those answers would be enough to satisfy you or not though..."

For a moment, there was only silence as none spoke. Gabriel found their words to be making sense. The Hundredth floor might be able to give some clues. Moreover, these two had no memories of the Hundredth floor since they were separated from the main body right after they cleared the ninety-ninth floor.

At the moment, in this place were only three people: Gabriel, Cylix, and Novius. The Infernal King wasn't present here as Gabriel had already sent him back.

Since it was going to be a long training where he wasn't going to be needed, Gabriel didn't feel like wasting the Infernal King's time. Moreover, even in the battle, he wasn't allowed to use the Infernal King, so it was all on him.

He sent the Infernal King back to the realm of the dead, which he was eager to get back to. Not only did Gabriel send the Infernal King back, but he also promised the Infernal King that he wasn't going to call him again for at least a month unless he was really facing a life or death situation. The Infernal King could finish his business in the Realm of Dead.

Immersed in the beautiful silence under the moonlight, Gabriel didn't even realize when he fell asleep. It had been a long time since he had a sleep like this, where he wasn't as stressed as he usually was.

Moreover, even though he was expecting these bizarre dreams, it had been weeks since he had seen something like that. He felt as if he was healing and his Grimoire had stopped showing him such dreams... At least for now.

After a long time, he was once again seeing ordinary dreams, sleeping in the gentle embrace of Earth.

After Gabriel fell asleep, Cylix glanced at him. Noticing him sleeping, Cylix sat up, folding his knees. Novius also sat up.

Both of them glanced at the peacefully sleeping face of Gabriel, who looked like he was in a deep sleep. After observing Gabriel for a few seconds, they both glanced at each other momentarily.

They both stood up and disappeared.

The Academy had been under a lockdown for close to two weeks, and no classes were going on. However, it was only now that classes had resumed. The only place which was forbidden for the students to go to was the Tower of Challenges which was still being guarded by two Head Teachers every second.

Now that the class had resumed, Teachers once again started interacting with the students and found out things that they didn't before because of their distraction.

"When is Lord Izen returning?"

Other than the two Head Teachers who were protecting the Tower of Challenges, all the other Head Council Teachers were sitting in the Dean's office with Eliana.

It was weeks ago when Eliana sent a message to Izen, who was the current Dean of the Academy and the most powerful out of them all. In fact, they believed that even if they all fought Izen together, they still couldn't defeat him. That was Izen's strength.

At the moment, they needed proper guidance, and the only person who could handle it was Izen.

"I received a response from him," Eliana answered. "He is coming back in a week..."

"Where is he even doing to take so long? Where is he?" Lishen inquired, confused. Their Dean just disappeared one day, handing over the temporary responsibilities to Eliana. They didn't even know where he went in reality.

Eliana also shrugged her shoulders. "If only I knew. I'm sure he's doing something important, which is keeping him engaged. We should get the answers when he returns."

"Anyway, that's not the only thing I called you here to inform." Before the others could question her more about Izen, Eliana continued, shifting the topic.

"What more?"

"It's about Lelin..." Eliana let out. Unlike Gabriel, who she hid about from the Head Council, she had already told them about Lelin from the start.

"The boy who was selected by the Holy Priest of Light to be his heir?" Yoan asked, resting his hand on the table before him. "What about him?'

"Now that the classes have begun again, we've noticed that he has been missing," Eliana answered. "We've searched the entire academy, but he's nowhere to be found."

"Did he leave the Academy, thinking it wasn't safe for him after the last attack?" Lishen suggested. The attack on the Academy had really weakened its reputation.

Previously, the Academy used to be considered the safest place in the Lumen Empire, comparable to the Sacred Church of Light in safety, but not anymore. The news about them being robbed had already spread in the entire city, dealing a heavy blow to their reputation.

Even though the Academy took every step possible to make sure this news didn't spread out, none of their steps worked at all. They had become a laughing stock for some people in the city because of this.

However, it wasn't just them who took a blow to their reputation. The Sacred Church of Light took some of the heat, even though not on the same level as the Academy. Now there were some questions being raised as to how a Dark Mage managed to enter the city, passing through their barrier undetected.

The Church of Light had no answer to that question, so they could only choose silence and use their influence to spread a rumor that it wasn't a Dark Mage who robbed the Academy of Element.

They changed the story only slightly to change the Element of the robber from Darkness to Summoning to protect the reputation of their protective barrier.

"No. The Academy was sealed right after that attack, and even now, no student is allowed to leave the academy, so there is no way for him to leave. At least not through normal means," Eliana expressed, refuting Lishen's thoughts.

p "Not through normal means...? What are you implying?" Xinci asked, noticing the importance of the specific terms Eliana used.

"At the moment, there are two possibilities, according to me." Eliana took a brief pause before continuing, "One is that Lelin was working with Gabriel. The Element of a Light that was used to clean Hawrin's room of all evidence? It was Lelin. We already knew that Gabriel had the help of one of the students who could Lelin light. That person could very well be Lelin..."

"How does that even make sense? Lelin came with the Holy Church of a Light. He was sent by the Holy Priest himself. Didn't you tell us that? You also had a letter from the Head of the Church of Light."

It made sense that Gabriel had the help of one of the students who could use the element of Light when he killed Hawrin, but for that helper to be Lelin? That seemed like a stretch. Why would someone who was going to be the Head of the Church of Light in the future help Gabriel?

"Maybe because he wasn't actually sent by the Holy Priest of Light... Gabriel fooled us using Illusions. It could be the same for Lelin. The carriage which brought him here...? What if that was also an ordinary Carriage that was under the illusion to look like the carriage from the Church of Light?" Eliana explained.

"As soon as he came here, he made up a story to make sure we didn't cross check his identity with the Holy Church of a Light by telling us that he was sent by the Holy Priest himself, secretly. To keep that secret, we couldn't ask the Church of Light directly, and that was the final piece of his trick to fool us," she further stated.

"I should've guessed as much! It was too much of a coincidence for two youngsters with such talents to come on the same day at around the same time..." Eliana sighed, slowly realizing that she didn't just make one mistake in this episode. Instead, she had made mistakes after mistakes due to her greed.

The more she realized her mistakes, the angrier she got at Gabriel.

"That would definitely explain how he disappeared right after the theft... He had executed his mission and left. Gabriel was also supposed to leave, but he stayed behind due to the Tower." Rem didn't find this story too far-fetched. If anything, this made more sense.

"What is the other possibility you talked about?" Yoan asked, remembering that Eliana had mentioned two possibilities.

"The other possibility is that we are wrong about our initial assumption and that he was actually sent by the Church of Light. Under this possibility, Lelin was killed by Gabriel since he wanted to remove a future threat. This time, however, Gabriel made sure not to even leave the body behind," Eliana stated, shocking everyone who heard the possibility as it made just as much sense as the first possibility.

In both cases, they had lost Lelin, but the first possibility was still better. If the latter was true, that meant the Holy Priest of Light was going to be quite angry at them for not being able to protect Lelin!

"Shall we go to the Church to ask them directly?" Someone suggested.

"That's useless now." Eliana shook her head. With Lelin, they were stuck between a rock and a hard place. They couldn't even go to the Church of Light to ask them directly since, either way; they were going to be on the worse side of it.

If Lelin's story was true, then the only person who knew about his existence here was the Holy Priest of Light. Only he could confirm this theory. Unfortunately, according to the information they received from the Holy Church of Light, the Head of the Church of Light wasn't even in the city.

"Why are you telling us about Lelin if we can't even do anything about it in that case?" Yoan inquired. Eliana had mentioned Lelin and the two possibilities, but she herself agreed that they couldn't do anything about it. Then why mention it?

"I just wanted to remind you all of something. I mentioned his name for a specific reason," Eliana answered after a brief pause.

"No matter which of the possibilities about Lelin is true, we will be in trouble from both ends. If he were an enemy, then it would be embarrassing if someone found out that we were fooled by two people. And if he were a friend, we would be blamed for our failure to protect him inside the Academy."

"That's why I want to tell you that you must stick to one story. For the sake of our Academy, we need to create a lie and live with it."

Eliana was quite grim as she talked about this topic. She hated the fact that they had to lie about it and that they had to live without getting answers about the true whereabouts of Lelin, but it was the only option they had.

She told them what they had to do regarding it...

While the Academy was discussing how to solve Lelin's issue, Lelin was still standing before a place that looked like a temple. The door of this Temple was sealed, and it looked to be that way for a really long time.

It even looked like the door hadn't been opened in over a century.

Lelin stood all alone in this place, as even the Spectre was gone. The only thing which Lelin had was a small white orb that he was carrying openly.

"That should be the last of it," he commented as he tossed a dirty piece of cloth away.

He had spent his last few days trying to clear the entire temple, which was huge. The cleaning took him over a week, but finally, he was done.

After cleaning the walls and the doors of the Temple, he took a few steps back. The tower previously looked quite different. However, after being cleaned, it was like an entirely different place altogether.

Previously, the outer walls and the door were covered in some black material, which made the tower look quite strange. However, now that the Temple was cleaned, its beautiful blue luminance was quite clear.

Moreover, there were also some characters that seemed to be written on the wall, which was previously hidden behind that dark material. After being cleaned, all those words were quite clear.

The entire tower was covered in words that seemed to be written using blood! As for whose blood it was, it was unclear.

Even though these words were clearly written centuries ago, they still looked very fresh for some reason, as if they happened just yesterday.

"I must say, he certainly had a knack for art," Lelin commented, seeing the blood on the walls.

Even though the bloody words were covering all sides of the Temple, they still looked more like an art than anything else. It was like each stroke... Each character was telling a story in itself.

"No wonder these people hated him so much... He really didn't know how to control himself when he was upset."

Lelin placed the white orb in his spatial storage before bringing out a scroll and a pen.

Using the pen, he started writing all the words on the scroll that were written on the Temple with blood.

The temple wasn't very small either. Just like cleaning, it took him over a week; even writing all the words that were written on the tower took him hours.

After he finished writing, he sat on the ground with the paper and started going through the words that were finally forming coherent sentences.

The language of the characters was different from what was usually used in this world currently, but despite that, Lelin was able to understand the words.

He had just managed to read the first sentence, which in itself was shocking enough. However, he had to stop right after the first sentence as he felt something.

His fists clenched as he stood up, slowly turning around. He could sense a strange energy that the world hadn't seen for a long long time.

Turning around, Lelin noticed a door... It was just a door that had appeared in the middle of nowhere, not too far from him.

The door looked beautiful, seemingly made of a material that was quite similar to pure silver. In the middle of the door, there was only one mark... The mark of an hourglass.

Seeing the symbol, even Lelin seemed taken aback.

"Well, that was fast.."

It didn't look like he was shocked at their arrival. Instead, he seemed more appalled that they had arrived sooner than he expected. He didn't even have the time to leave, and they were already here.

He scratched the back of his head, seemingly disappointed at his slow speed. He closed the scroll and sent it back to his storage.

The Majestic door opened, revealing timeless darkness on the other side. Even Lelin couldn't see anything through the darkness, but his Mark of Light had already started to react.

His Mark of Light was already sending a burning sensation all over his body.

Lelin could only see darkness through the door, but he didn't have to look to be able to know who was on the other side. Just the appearance of this door was enough to make him understand.

"I would've loved to greet you guys, but I'm afraid I'm done here. We'll have to delay this meeting for later..."

As soon as Lelin saw a person step out of the darkness, he stepped back. Two specks of lights appeared in each of his palms. He clapped his hands, making both the specks of light hit each other.

As soon as the two specks clashed between Lelin's hands, a bright light spread everywhere that made everything turn stark white, making it impossible for him to be seen. The bright flash of light only lasted for a brief second before it disappeared...

As the bright light disappeared, it revealed the place where Lelin was previously standing. However, that place was completely empty now. Lelin was nowhere to be found.

As soon as the door had opened, Lelin immediately left, making it unclear if he ran away because he was scared or if he really didn't want to waste time.

A person stepped out of the door, seemingly in his early twenties. The silver-haired man had a pale white face, showing barely any shred of life.

The only thing that made him look human other than his physicality was the anger in his deep red eyes

His long hair waved with the wind as the blood-red gem around his neck shone briefly. The man stepped closer to the place where Lelin used to be standing.

He could see some glyphs on the ground, surrounded by a formation that was left behind after Lelin disappeared.

The silver-haired man only briefly looked at the marks on the ground where he was standing before shifting his attention to the Temple before him.

He gazed at the words that were written using blood all around the temple.

"You let him run away..." Another person stepped out of the door, being a woman.

"He didn't have both the Orbs," the young man known as Vienn answered grimly.

"So you intentionally let him leave?" Jia inquired, also staring at the Temple before them.

Vienn didn't answer, but his silence was enough of an answer for Jia.

"One of the orbs is out. We can get it whenever we want but without the second... It is incomplete for us." After a brief pause, Vienn stated.

They could sense the first orb since it was taken out by Lelin, but the Orb that was with Gabriel was safely kept inside his Grimoire of Necromancy, which made it impossible even for them to sense it.

"I see... So he will lead us to the second..." The woman muttered, nodding. She understood what the man was thinking when he didn't even try to stop Lelin.

The two of them were standing on top of the formation that seemed like the aftermath of the Teleportation of Light spell that helped Lelin escape; however, there were also subtle changes in the formation in the form of the added glyphs.

Even as Lelin left, he didn't forget to leave some nice surprise for them.

The glyphs hidden inside the formation started shining, barely noticeable. It seemed as if the glyphs were slowly absorbing energy from Nature.

Boom~

After the Glyphs gathered enough energy, the entire formation exploded, creating a large cloud of fire that covered quite a lot of area.

The cloud of fire slowly started dispersing as the temperature that had suddenly gone to the extreme started coming down.

The fire disappeared, and even the smoke started settling down, revealing a large crater where the formation used to be.

Above the crater, two people could be seen floating where the ground level used to be before the explosion.

Surprisingly, there was not even a scratch on those two. They didn't even lose their balance, as if they weren't even standing on the ground before the explosion. There had always been a few millimeters of gap between their feet and the ground.

A semi-transparent red barrier was surrounding Vienn and Jia. Both of them looked quite unimpressed at the attempt as well.

Vienn gazed at the crater under him. "Humans are still as naive as they used to be..."

He snapped his fingers. Surprisingly, following the snap of his fingers, the crater under him started filling up. The ground once again appeared right under their feet like it used to be. The only difference was that there was no carving there now.

"We've waited for so long," Jia commented, finally landing on the ground. "I suppose we can wait a few more weeks as well..."

They were right at the core of an explosion, but it didn't even look like they took it seriously. They had already forgotten about it. Instead, their minds were more focused on the words that were written from Blood on the Temple before them.

"He really was a headache to face..." Vienn muttered, observing the blood that seemed more like a beautiful poem filled with agony and less like a threat or anything else.

It was as if whoever wrote them was tormented by their own existence and wanted to let out all their emotions.

"Compared to him, the ones in the present day are mere kids," he stated as he finally lowered his gaze.

He turned his back on the temple and started walking back to the door behind him.

Vienn passed through the door and disappeared into the darkness of the other end.

Jia was the only person who was left behind. She took one more glance at the beautiful yet tragic words.

She stepped closer to the Temple and placed her soft hands on the wall. As if following her commands, the Temple was once again surrounded by that dark matter which hid the blood-red words which didn't deserve to exist.

Unfortunately for everyone, the words couldn't be erased even by gods! They could only be hidden behind another layer, making it impossible to see them unless someone specifically knew what to look for.

After covering the tower once again, Jia also turned around and went back to the other side of the door she came from.

After the two of them went back to where they came from, the silver door closed on its own and disappeared as if it was never there in the first place.

The place once again returned to its usual silence, looking like before. There was no crater on the ground and no signs of battle…

There was no sense of day and night inside the tower. Everything depended on the desires of the Cylix and Novius. Whenever they wished, it was day. Whenever they wanted, it was night.

As the Tower also ran in a different space, they could even manipulate the flow of time inside the tower, completely detaching it from the outside World. Despite all that, they just preferred to stick as close to the real timeline as possible since there was no benefit in doing anything extra.

It was just with the training of Gabriel that they manipulated the flow of time, albeit only to a small extent. Since they believed Gabriel was going to train here for a long time, they didn't want to keep him away from the real world for too long as things could change really fast in the real world.

They only tweaked the time inside the tower only a tiny bit to make sure that two days inside the tower were equal to one day outside the Tower.

Since they could control so much inside the tower, it was only a minor thing for them to control the length of a day.

Gabriel was sleeping in open grass fields. It had been close to twelve hours, but it was still dark out as if the Stars didn't wish to leave Gabriel's company.

After disappearing for a moment, Cylix and Novius were once again back, right beside Gabriel. It was unclear where they had gone; however, as they returned, Cylix had a small cut on his hand. As for Novius, he seemed somewhat fine.

Both, Cylix and Novius gazed at Gabriel as if they were looking at their younger brother. It had been a long time since they had met a person who didn't hate being here. Gabriel was immersed in training whenever he was up. In fact, he even enjoyed his training, which in turn made it fun for Novius and Cylix to train the young man.

"All these years, I wanted to just disappear... I wanted to be free of this place, having no purpose anymore," Cylix also lay on the grass nearby, looking at the stars. "But the last few days have certainly been something else... I enjoyed being alive if we could even call ourselves that."

"He's reaching near the end of his training. We've already taught him almost all of our skills except one... In a few days, he should master them as well. That might be the time when all this finally ends... Maybe for good."

Novius also laid on the soft grass, pointing his finger at one of the stars. He moved his finger as if it was a brush with which he was writing in the air. However, it wasn't the air he was writing on. He was writing in the starry sky.

The star that he had pointed at moved with each stroke of his finger, leaving a beautiful blue shine behind, seemingly forming a constellation.

"Even though he'll know everything we know, it still won't be easy for him to defeat us," Cylix reminded Novius.

"I know," Novius agreed. "But if anyone can do this, it is him..."

He further stated. "If he can't kill us with our own elements, we can allow him to use his original element as well. That should help him stand up to us, thanks to the Ancestral Staff. In any case, our purpose would be completed after we finish teaching him."

Cylix smiled. Even though he often smiled, his current smile seemed purer, coming straight from his heart. "Maybe that was the meaning of our existence in the tower all along... The reason no one had been able to defeat us? Because we were supposed to meet and train him..."

"Since when did you start believing in destiny, old friend?" Novius seemed quite amused. He knew Cylix for a long time. He knew that Cylix was a person who never believed in destiny. However, he was believing now?

"I didn't believe in destiny. At the same time, I didn't believe that there could be a person who could use three Elements at once. If one is possible, the second can be too... It's just too much of a coincidence that we had a person challenge us who shared both of our elements... Who could be better to give us the freedom we craved than him?"

"We taught him everything we knew. Even though our knowledge is nothing when compared to our older selves, but that still makes us his teachers. Isn't that what we wanted to be when we came up with the idea to start an academy for young mages?" he asked Novius. "What could be more pleasing for us as teachers than to see our students surpass us with our teachings?"

Novius didn't answer, but even he was happy that things were going this way. It was much better than any other outcome he could've thought of. Even though they were probably going to be destroyed forever soon, they were still going to live through the knowledge that they'd imparted to Gabriel...

Initially, they expected their Academy to be the legacy that they left behind, but after finding out what the Academy had become, they even hated calling it their academy! Their legacy, according to them, wasn't the Academy anymore! Instead, it was Gabriel! Gabriel was going to be their legacy!

Since Novius could control the night here, he made sure that it was night until Gabriel woke up on his own. He wanted Gabriel to be properly rested and not have his sleep be disturbed by the morning since they were going to be teaching him their prized spell tomorrow.

Amongst the spells that they taught Gabriel, only a few of them were rare spells that weren't mentioned in the books at the Academy of Elements, but their strongest spells were something that even the Academy didn't have.

It was said to be their prized spell that each of them came up with on their own in their time.

It was said that the spells that Cylix and Novius created were so precious that even the Church of Light and the Church of Darkness of their time wanted to possess those spells.

In fact, the Churches were even willing to trade for those spells, but the two founders refused both the Churches, saying they only intended to teach their core spell to their personal disciples.

Cylix and Novius didn't know if their real selves found any disciples after leaving the tower to teach these two spells, but for them, Gabriel was their first disciple... The first and the worthy disciple…

After a long and peaceful sleep, Gabriel finally looked as if he was coming out of his deep sleep, having slept for close to twelve hours.

Noticing Gabriel waking up, Novius finally changed the time in this world to dawn. It was as if the sun was waking up at the same time as Gabriel.

Gabriel opened his eyes, feeling the beautiful weathering. The winds were slightly cold but not too cold, giving a particularly good feeling.

"Good morning, young man."

Gabriel had just opened his eyes when he was greeted by Novius and Cylix. "Enough sleeping now. Get up. We have a lot to cover today."

Gabriel sat up, agreeing. He didn't come here to sleep. He had to learn... Learn everything he could so he could get to the hundredth floor.

After giving him a few minutes to get ready, Cylix and Novius began his last schedule of training finally.

Twenty Minutes Later

Gabriel was ready for his training. However, instead of the usual, where only one person accompanied him during training, both of them stood before him as if they were going to stay there.

"We've already taught you most of our spells. Now only three spells are left for you to learn!" Cylix informed Gabriel. "The three spells that we haven't taught anyone...'

"What three spells...?" Gabriel inquired. If there were only three spells left to learn, he could feel that he was really close to the end of his training session. At best, it was going to be two or three days before he had to seriously fight Cylix and Novius.

"First spell belongs to me and the Element of Darkness," Novius answered. "It's a High Grade spell, and it will place a lot of burden on your soul. It might even take a heavy toll on you, but I can promise you that it'll be worth it..."

Cylix further stated, "The Second Spell belongs to me and the Element of Light. It's also a High Grade Spell and should help you a lot in what's to come."

"And the third spell?" Out of the three spells that he was here to learn, one belonged to each of them. That left one...

"The Third Spell is something that no individual person can master in this World... It's a spell that a Mage of Light can't cast..." Cylix stated as if he was talking about a really simple yet it was quite surprising for Gabriel. A spell that no Individual Mage could cast?

Did that mean the spell was so exhausting that it needed the strength of two people to cast? Or was it something else? If it was the former, could he even cast it himself?

Even though he was a Holy Priest of Necromancy, he was still only a Mid-Tier Mage in Spiritual Strength. Casting a High Tier Spell in itself was quite a lot for him at this point in time.

Novius smirked, noticing the confused expressions of Gabriel. "Don't worry about it. When we said no individual mage can cast it, that didn't include you. You are an exception to this case."

Cylix nodded. "The Third Spell is something that we created together. It's not a spell of Light, but it's also not a spell of Darkness. If anything, it's a spell of both and possibly the only spell in the World which uses two elements."

"We both needed to cast that spell together for it to work, using both our elements but you..." He glanced at the back of Gabriel's left hand, seeing his two Elemental Marks right next to each other. "You are possibly the only exception in the World who won't need the help of any other person for this."

"You can use both, Darkness and Light. You should be able to cast this spell alone, but it won't be easy even for you. We haven't classified that spell, but if we were to, that spell would most probably be considered half step above a High Tier Spell."

"You already know how much burden a High Tier Spell places on your soul? The burden of this spell would only be more. That's why we'll deal with it in the end."

After giving Gabriel some briefing on what he was to learn next, the two founders started his training once again.

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Novius took the lead while Cylix stepped back. Gabriel was going to learn the High-Grade Spell of Darkness first.

Novius raised his right hand toward Gabriel, making a white scroll appear on his hand. "This scroll has everything you need to learn about the spell. Go through the basics, and then I'll teach you what the scroll doesn't mention to make it easier for you."

Gabriel took the scroll from the man's hands and opened it. The description of the spell was somewhat similar to how spells were described in his Grimoire, making them easier to understand.

Gabriel read the name on the top of the Spell.

"Paradise of Darkness?" He repeated the name of the spell, finding it quite fascinating. The name didn't make the spell feel like an offensive spell. However, it was only when he went through the spell that he realized what it truly was. This spell... It was not even close to what he was thinking.

The spell was so good that he was sure it would've been kept in treasures at the Academy, only being shown to the greatest of their students.

Novius observed the impressed expressions of Gabriel, feeling quite pleased. The expressions of Gabriel were giving him some validation which made him happy.

He glanced back at his friend, showing off a smug look.

"Wait until you see mine! It'll be even better!" Cylix yelled, reminding Gabriel as he scoffed.

Even the two friends couldn't ignore the friendly competitive spirit.

Gabriel sat down on the ground and started going through the description of the spell, trying to understand it on his own first before taking any help.

He had only recently awakened the element of Darkness, and he was still trying to test its limit. If anything, this spell was a perfect tool to see just how capable this element of Darkness was. He also wondered just how intense this spell was going to become if he used the Ancestral Staff of Darkness with it.

After half an hour of trying to learn the spell, he finally closed the scroll again. He had memorized each and every word written inside the scroll.

He returned the scroll to Novius.

While Novius was waiting for Gabriel to ask him questions regarding this spell that he didn't understand, Gabriel surprised him by already starting to cast that spell.

"He learned already?!" Novius frowned, taken aback.

The usual spells were learned by Gabriel quite fast, but this wasn't supposed to be a standard spell.

This was a High Tier Spell! Just how could Gabriel learn it in less than an hour? Moreover, how was it possible that he had no questions about it at all? The concepts of this spell were quite deep and intrinsic. Even for Gabriel, it should've been somewhat hard.

Even though Gabriel had learned darkness quite a lot thanks to the usual spells, but even that didn't change the fact that he had just awakened the Element of Darkness and not like his natural elements.

Darkness was his forced element, so his comprehension related to darkness should've been weaker as well.

He wanted to ask Gabriel if the young man had actually learned the spell, but before he could, he felt someone's hand on his shoulders.

Cylix was right beside him again, telling him not to interfere. "I know what you want to ask, but let him complete the spell. We will get our answers soon enough."

Even Cylix was intrigued if Gabriel actually learned the spell so fast.

A mysterious darkness started surrounding Gabriel as he cast the spell. The sky above started changing, turning slightly darker as if a layer of darkness was covering the star.

This world was under the two Founders' control, but even without their permission, the world turned darker, thanks to the spell of Gabriel, which was just starting.

"He did get the essence right," Novius muttered, sensing Gabriel bringing out the darkness from the nature.

Gabriel gracefully raised his left hand after he reached the end of the spell without missing even a single word.

"Paradise of Darkness!"

As soon as he finished the spell, the darkness increased multiple folds. Up to a thousand meters of area around Gabriel was covered in black mist that made it impossible for anyone to see anything there except the Caster.

Paradise of Darkness was a Domain spell that changed the surroundings of a Dark Mage to something that was advantageous to him.

The dark mist around Gabriel wasn't just there to block the vision of the enemies. Instead, it was also working to weaken the enemy by corrupting their energy sources, stealing their energy.

It was said that the Paradise of Darkness was one of the best Domain Spells of its time, as it served multiple purposes. Not only did it reduce the mobility of the enemies, but it also weakened them by quite a lot.

"The spell that can weaken the enemies by up to twenty percent while increasing the strength of the caster by that much as long as the spell is in effect." Cylix seemed impressed at Gabriel's ability to actually cast this spell.

Since Cylix had seen Novius create this spell and use it multiple times, he knew almost as much as Novius about this spell, which also helped him see the flaws in Gabriel's spell.

He had seen what a perfect Paradise of Darkness was supposed to be like, and this wasn't it... At least not entirely.

"It's pretty good for a first attempt. The Domain is quite unstable though. He really needs to work on that. At this rate, he can't even keep the Domain up for-"

He couldn't even finish his sentence before the Domain broke apart and the world returned to normal.

Gabriel sat on the ground, tired as the spell broke apart. The Spell was definitely taking a heavy toll on his soul.

"No wonder it's a High Tier spell. I hadn't even reached the second stage of this spell..."

"Good attempt for sure... Even surprised us all. If that's your starting point, I have a feeling you really will be able to master this spell very soon." Novius reached out his hand, giving another Soul Healing pill to Gabriel so he could be ready for training again.

Gabriel at the pill, replenishing his soul once again before he stood up.

"Firstly, you don't need to be that tense when casting that spell." After Gabriel was ready for the lesson, Novius started teaching him all the mistakes that he was committing.

"I know that Darkness isn't your natural spell, but it's also not your enemy anymore," he stated, creating a few specks of darkness around them that looked like small planets that were encircling around them.

"If you want Darkness to protect you, you need to think of it as your friend and not just a tool. Darkness is a part of you now. You can't be hesitant when using it. That's where you're making the biggest mistake. If you're hesitating in fully embracing the darkness, that create a resistance inside you."

"And because of that resistance, it not only takes more spiritual energy to use that spell, but it also makes the outcome very unstable for use in any real situation. Once you remove that resistance and fear from inside you, you will know the true capabilities of Darkness!"

Novius stepped back, spreading his arms.

"Paradise of Darkness!" He cast the same spell to show Gabriel how it was done!

Similar to before, the sky was once again covered in darkness, but the range this time was much longer. The Dark Mist, this time, was even denser and covered twenty times more area than Gabriel had managed to cover.

The man walked through the mist, which moved aside to clear his path. "The Darkness isn't your enemy! It's not going to betray you! It's the friend that is always going to support you!"

As Gabriel saw the dark mist move aside for Novius, he couldn't help but remember the scene where flames were moving aside for the Infernal King, clearing his path. What fire was for the Infernal King was Darkness for Novius!

Both of them placed their entire faith in their element!

Gabriel had that same kind of trust for his Necromancy, but even he couldn't get that level of ease with darkness.

He was really hurt in the Prison of Darkness last time. He could still feel some of that pain which made him hesitate a bit since the Domain Spell reminded him a lot of the Prison of Darkness.

The subconscious hesitation wasn't so clear when he used some lower-tier spells, but when it came to high tier spells, it was noticed instantly.

"I know it's not easy to fully embrace another element right away, but when you do, you'll realize that this makes a lot of difference!"

"This Darkness is everywhere. No matter where you go, you'll find this Darkness there! If you can truly control it..."

The dark mist condensed behind Novius, taking a solid shape of a black cloak that wrapped around his shoulders.

Two Dark Gauntlets also appeared around his hands, formed from the same Darkness.

"This is the Paradise!" Novius declared proudly. "The Paradise of Darkness where I'm the God! In this Paradise, I make the rules, and only I can break them!"

"I am the God and the Demon of this Paradise!"

Even though it was still the same young Novius as before, when he stood in the Paradise of Darkness that was cast by him, his entire personality was different! He truly was like a god of darkness in this place who had control of everything.

The dark mist also transformed his clothes into something more authoritative.

The Mist around Gabriel changed into Sharp Spikes that spread out. Gabriel stood amidst the spikes, not moving. He didn't look scared either, as if he was sure that he couldn't be hurt.

Just as he expected, the spikes stooped right when they were mere inches away from his skin.

Thousands of dark Spears floated around Gabriel as if they only needed one instruction to hit him.

"This is the Darkness... The Darkness that makes you control everything!" Novius stepped closer to Gabriel, looking deep into his eyes.

It was as if he was just trying to show what this spell was truly capable of. The mist in the Paradise of Darkness wasn't just an obstruction for others! It was the biggest weapon for them since they could control the mist like it was a part of their body.

"It's a spell that helps you fight multiple enemies even when you're alone! That's why this Spell is something you need to learn if you want to even have a chance of defeating us!"

Novius canceled the spell, and all the darkness disappeared right away as if everything that they just saw was no more than an illusion. The sky returned to normal.

"What you felt just now was the essence of this darkness... The overwhelming darkness! If you can embrace it, it's good. If you can't, it'll be such a waste..."

Gabriel saw Novius retreat back. The spell that he had shown was certainly more overwhelming than what he cast. It was the perfection of Paradise of Darkness that he also wanted to possess.

"Embrace this darkness..." Gabriel mumbled under his breath, gazing at the back of his left hand.

All his life, he had heard how darkness was a bad element; that was something they needed to be scared of. That fear of darkness was instilled in their hearts ever since they were young, but he knew that it was just a false mirage that the world had created.

Darkness was certainly scary, but it was more than that. Darkness was able to take a person's vision away, but it was also something that gave something equally precious in return.

A person couldn't see anything in the darkness, but at the same time, that was also the time that allowed them to see without their eyes. It was the darkness that made people use their other senses, stimulating them to improve them further. Darkness was everywhere, yet it was nowhere.

Gabriel closed his eyes, trying to imagine the feeling of being surrounded by this darkness.

Novius smiled, seeing Gabriel taking it seriously. He could see that Gabriel was really on the right track.

To help Gabriel further, Novius snapped his fingers, changing the time of day here. What was a bright day until recently was no more than the darkest of night now.

There were no stars in the sky. There was not even a moon above them.

"This guy... If he were born in our time, the world would've been so different." Novius walked back to Cylix.

"If he were born in our time, the history would certainly be different..." Cylix agreed. "The Kid is really something else... Whenever I think that I understand him, he proves me wrong."

"He is like a deep Abyss... filled with secrets. Whatever he does... None of that is normal. I don't know what to call what he has. A Gift from the Gods? Or a curse?" Novius asked, even though he knew that Cylix wasn't going to have an answer to this question.

Cylix took a brief pause before responding, "I am not sure... But I don't think it matters at this point. Even the greatest of gifts can become a curse depending on how you treat it."

"It will depend on how he treats what he has," he continued, watching Gabriel just stand in the darkness. "And also on how the world treats him..."

"So far, we know that the world hasn't been kind to him." Novius agreed. "Anything is possible in the future. All we can do is try to help him with our teachings... But how he uses that teaching, it'll all rest on his shoulders."

"He can either change the entire World, bringing it on the right track of eternal prosperity, or he can destroy it to create something new... I hope it's the former, but there is some fear in my heart that it might be the latter..."

Gabriel stood in silence in the Darkness. For a moment, he even forgot where he actually was, losing himself in the silence.

The silence of this darkness was so peaceful... So welcoming...

Gabriel didn't even realize when he started truly embracing the darkness. He thought about his experience with the Darkness. Even though it was painful at times, that Darkness was now his ally and under his control. He knew that if he had this ally before, he wouldn't have had to go through that pain. This ally would've protected him.

"I don't want to be scared of you... I want to accept you..." Gabriel raised his left hand without opening his eyes.

He didn't cast any spell this time, and it seemed more like he was talking to himself, reaching out his hand toward an imaginary friend.

Since his eyes were closed, he couldn't see it, but his surroundings were slightly changing. Specks of darkness appeared around him, circling around him as if he was their sun and they were his stars.

The Darkness had never left him... The Darkness didn't refuse to accept him. Instead, it was he who had always had hesitation around that darkness ever since he returned from the prison of darkness, but now that he understood himself and this darkness better, he also started embracing the darkness.

His Mark of Element of Darkness started shining brightly, becoming even darker than it usually was, as if the Mark of Darkness was also truly accepting him for some reason.

Seeing all the changes, Novius could only smile. Gabriel was succeeding.

Gabriel slowly opened his eyes, realizing that his vision was much better now. Even in the darkness, he was able to see as if it was a bright day. Moreover, he could also feel the darkness in his surroundings. His entire visage was also different now, and he seemed more grown up and more mature.

"Paradise of Darkness," Gabriel spoke without even casting the full spell. However, just the three words proved to be enough now that he was one with the Darkness.

A Dark Domain spread out, even covering Novius in it.

Gabriel glanced toward Novius. He didn't look sad, but he didn't look happy either, even though he had succeeded in controlling the spell.

The mist around Novius changed to spikes as well that surrounded him. The sharp ends of the spikes stopped barely a few inches away from Novius...

Gabriel not only cast a spell successfully, but he had also managed to enter the second stage of the space where he could control the mist even more.

The spell still placed a heavy burden on his soul, but that burden was much less than he had when he cast an unstable spell.

A similar dark robe appeared around Gabriel's back, but his black robe was slightly different than what Novius had.

There was a beautiful mark in the middle of his Robe of Darkness that depicted his Mark... The Bleeding Moon

Novius was surrounded by dark spikes that appeared to be coming out of the ground, stopping right before they could actually touch him.

Gabriel walked closer to Novius this time. It was as if he was doing everything that Novius had done before. All the mist between them moved aside, clearing Gabriel's path.

There was only one difference this time compared to when Novius cast the spell. When Novius cast the spell, he used flying spears that were made using the Mist to surround Gabriel as well to show him how versatile this darkness was.

Gabriel didn't use the spears to surround him, leaving only the spikes on the ground to hold him in place.

He had also made some spears, but the spears weren't surrounding Novius. Instead, all the flying spears remained behind Gabriel as if waiting for a single command before shooting straight to Novius and Cylix.

"Hahaha..."

The entire field was surrounded in darkness when a laughter echoed. The laughter was filled with pride and some amusement.

It was none other than Cylix who had burst out laughing, not only impressed that Gabriel had succeeded in making this spell more stable but also due to the fact that Gabriel was using the same trick that Novius used to show off.

"Good! Very good! That's how it's supposed to be done!" He exclaimed, pleased. With this kind of skill, he believed that there was certainly a good chance that Gabriel could defeat them.

Gabriel's spell was executed perfectly, but his own strength wasn't quite on the level where he could keep that up for long. He was only a Mid Tier Mage when it came to the spiritual strength, which was what held him back from truly being able to keep this spell up for long.

For a Mid Tier Mage, a High Grade Spell was already too much, so keeping it up for a few minutes was already a big deal.

Moreover, despite using the spell with such control, Gabriel still seemed as if he could go on for a little longer.

The spears that were floating behind him disappeared along with all the mist, and the darkness as the World soon returned to normal. Despite having the ability, Gabriel canceled the spell on time.

He knew the longer he kept the spell going, the more burden it was going to place on his soul, taking longer to heal it.

As Gabriel canceled the spell, the cloak behind him disappeared as well. He finally came out of the zone of darkness, sitting on the ground.

When he was under the effect of the spell, he seemed perfectly fine and at ease, but it was only when he canceled the spell that he felt the true pain. His breathing was heavy, and his stomach was aching really bad.

The shaking of hands was once again back, albeit not as intense as the time he had used Wrath of the Dead.

Gabriel raised his shaking hand toward Cylix as if asking for something. He didn't even need to speak anything for Cylix to understand what he was asking for.

Cylix brought another Soul Healing Pill and placed it on Gabriel's hands. Gabriel swallowed the pill right away before falling to the ground, letting the pill take effect.

He had used the High Grade Spell twice in the last few hours, so even with the pill, things weren't as swift as before when it came to his healing.

"That spell was really good." Gabriel covered his eyes since the bright sun in the sky was making him feel uncomfortable when he rested. However, he still didn't forget to compliment the spell.

"It gave me the feeling of strength... A feeling of control..." he explained.

He had used the Spell of Necromancy like the Wrath of the Dead before. The spell was undoubtedly more powerful than the Paradise of Darkness by a huge margin even though both are considered High Tier Spells.

The Wrath of Undead spell was also very chaotic from what Gabriel had experienced before. When he used that spell, it was like he was tapping into a chaotic energy that wanted to destroy every obstruction in his path.

On the contrary, the Paradise of Darkness was different. It was like a very composed energy that didn't destroy anything. Instead, the Paradise of Darkness gave him the control of everything, as if showing him that it was just there for support.

With Wrath of Undead, Gabriel felt like it was a weapon of gods that could only be used to destroy things. However, with Paradise of Darkness, he felt more like it was something way more versatile.

It wasn't as destructive and powerful as Wrath of the Dead, but it gave him a Crowd Control ability, making him capable of not only attacking others but also to protect himself.

Since Gabriel had just embraced the Darkness and strengthened his Element of Darkness, it wasn't odd that he was uncomfortable in the light, at least for a short period of time.

To make things more comfortable for him, Novius changed the day into the night.

As Gabriel felt his surroundings turn dark, he opened his eyes again, feeling much better.

"Don't worry. It's just your body adjusting to what you went through. In a few hours, you should be perfectly fine." Cylix and Novius sat beside Gabriel, making sure he understood what he was going through.

For the next twenty-four hours, Gabriel rested and trained the same spell, practicing it again and again to improve himself. Under the tutelage of Novius, his improvement was good as well.

Even though Gabriel had perfected the spell for the most part, there were still a few things that could've been improved, and that's what Novius made him work on.

It was only after there were no flaws left in any of the spells that Gabriel learned from Novius that he was allowed to train next with Cylix to learn the High Tier Spell of Light as well.

It had been such a long time since Gabriel arrived on this floor that he had already lost the count for now. He didn't even know what was happening in the outside world, but that was the last thing he would've cared about as he stood before Cylix to learn his third High Tier Spell... The Spell of Light.

Once again, Cylix was accompanied by Novius who stood in the back this time, giving Cylix the space to teach.

Cylix opened his lips to speak, but before any word could even come out of his lips, a shout came from the back.

"Gabriel, if you can master his spell faster than you mastered mine, I'll give you a nice gift!"

Cylix glared back at Novius, who just told Gabriel to learn the High Tier Spell of Light faster to prove that Darkness was more special and more complex to grasp than Light.

He understood why Novius wanted him to learn that spell faster. Since he laughed at the fact that Gabriel learned the Paradise of Darkness so easily, Novius wanted to do the same when Gabriel showed that the spell of Light was even less complex. The two never dropped their friendly competition.

"My dear friend, it's not going to be that easy. I'm not sure how long he will take to learn that spell, but it definitely won't be faster than yours," Cylix scoffed in response.

He had faith in his spell, and he knew how hard that was to master. He didn't believe Gabriel was going to learn that in less than an hour like he did with Novius' spell.

"What if he does?" Novius smirked, trying to push Cylix a bit. He knew that Cylix was a prideful person, and that was his biggest weakness, if there was any.

Novius knew that his allure of prize could motivate Gabriel into learning this spell faster, but at the same time, he wanted the added push... A push that only Cylix could give. Only he could hurt Gabriel's pride by claiming that it was impossible for him to achieve it.

At the same time, he also knew that Cylix had so much faith in his spell that he was most probably going to place a prize on line as well in the form of a bet, which could give Gabriel even more incentive to learn it faster.

He wanted to use Cylix to get Gabriel to defeat Cylix!

Cylix also fell straight into the trap. "Alright. If he can learn my spell in less time than yours and master it accordingly, then I'll accept my defeat! I'll also give all my Soul Healing Pills to him!"

"Deal." Novius took up the offer.

"You heard, young man?" he addressed Gabriel. "You will need Soul Healing Pills in the future, and they are already supposed to be extinct in the outside world. If you want to take them back, you better master this Spell fast!"

Gabriel was already excited to learn that spell. He didn't want to waste a single second, but it was as if every second, his rewards were increasing. First, he was going to get a reward from Novius, and now the Soul Healing Pills from Cylix?

That was perfect! Those Soul Healing Pills were going to come in really handy in his battle against them and even in the outside world!

Just for the pills, he wanted to achieve this task!

"Wait... Did you just... use me?" It was only now that he realized that Novius had played him, noticing the smug look on his face. "It doesn't matter. There's no way he can..."

He still didn't lose faith in his spell. Even he himself wouldn't have mastered this spell so fast. He knew the complexities of this spell. There was no way Gabriel could.

He brought a spell scroll and tossed it to Gabriel. "There, you have an hour to learn it. Give it your best try."

Gabriel caught the scroll and opened it to get his first glimpse of the spell.

"High Blessing of Light?"

The scroll was not only longer than the scroll of Darkness, but it also had more content as well. Just reading itself alone was going to consume more time than before, let alone mastering it.

"I told you, it's not possible," Cylix smirked. "Don't worry about the bet. Take your sweet time learning it. You might be able to learn it in a few days."

Even though Cylix was normally talking, for Gabriel, it was like he was being taunted. He couldn't afford to fail. If he wanted to win in a battle against them, he needed the ability to cast High Grade Spells more than once, and he could only do that if he had those pills now!

Gabriel didn't know that they were going to give him the pills in any case. They weren't going to send him back without the pills. For them, these pills were already useless. Instead, all they craved for was eternal sleep.

Still, it worked as a good motivation without letting Gabriel feel as if they were doing a favor to him.

From the beginning, Cylix and Novius made it seem as if they weren't doing any favors on Gabriel and just making things more interesting for themselves.

Gabriel sat on the ground and started going through the spell. He couldn't waste even a single second as he was in a race against time.

,m Fortunately, even though the spell was longer, for some reason, it wasn't as complicated as he had expected. Even he hadn't realized it yet that ever since he lost his consciousness in the Prison of Darkness, his comprehension had increased by multiple folds.

He just had to read a line once or twice to understand its essence. Even though the scroll has many such lines, the more Gabriel read, the faster he became.

"There's no way." Cylix still didn't believe that Gabriel was going to win this. Still, he had already prepared to console Gabriel after he lost.

He had already decided that he was going to give a few pills as compensation for now before giving him everything else when he was at death's door.

"Don't underestimate him, Cylix." Novius appeared next to him. "I made the same mistake, and he managed to surprise me. We shouldn't treat him like an ordinary Mage."

"Even if he isn't an ordinary Mage, it's still impossible. I know your spell. Even though I can't use it, I know it's slightly easier to comprehend since it just deals with the inner element of a person," Cylix responded. "Meanwhile, my spell deals mainly with the main forces of the nature without connecting them to the caster."

"I also want him to succeed, but I know that it'll be really unlikely in this case."

"We shall see."

"That was good." Gabriel stood up in less than twenty minutes after going through the entire spell.

"Don't tell me that you...?" Cylix refused to believe it. Just what was this nonsense? How could he learn it so fast? And he was calling it easy?

Novius felt like laughing out loud, but he controlled himself. Gabriel had to use the spell first to see if he actually learned it.

"Go ahead. Prove it then." Cylix stepped back to test Gabriel. "Use it on me!"

Gabriel also didn't hesitate. He had only learned the basic laws of the spell and how to use it, but he still hadn't used it, so he didn't know if there were any flaws like before or not, but he gave it a try.

"High Blessing of Light!"

191 Chapter 191: The Final Battle: Cylix (I)

[Two days later]

Gabriel and Cylix stood in a field that was specially made for their battle. Today was the day of the battle since Gabriel had managed to master all the spells they had to teach him. Not only did he master them, but he did that with such perfection that even the two Founders couldn't find any flaws.

"I'm asking you one last time. Do you want more time to train? You don't have to hurry with this battle!" Even though Gabriel had learned all the spells, Cylix still wanted him to take more time to get some more practice.

Gabriel, on the other hand, refused the offer. He had learned the spells that he needed to. As for practicing the spells... He didn't believe they were going to change much for him since he had already practiced enough, according to him.

"I am ready for the battle now." Gabriel declared.

He was already given the Soul Healing Pills after Gabriel managed to win the bet. Cylix was happy that Gabriel was so impressive, but at the same time, he was quite upset that his spell was proven to be even easier to understand than Novius' spell.

Cylix could still remember the laughter of Novius. For a mage, their spells were their child, especially the ones that they created from scratch.

The more complicated and harder to grasp a spell was, the better it was supposed to be according to them since it meant more complex elemental laws were used in their creation.

By learning his spell faster than Novius' spell, Gabriel had proven which one of them was harder to grasp for him, which was a proud victory for Novius.

After that loss, Cylix was silent for quite some time before he regained his usual composure. After two days, he had almost forgotten that incident, even though not entirely. Now his entire focus was on the battle with Gabriel!

Today was the day that they had been waiting for over a century! It was the day when they might get the freedom they ever so craved. That all depended on Gabriel and his strength.

Even though they were hopeful that he might achieve it, they knew that the chances of their victory were more, and to stand by their morals, they couldn't go easy on him.

In the entire field, only Gabriel and Cylix were standing. As for Novius, he was standing outside the battlefield, observing the battlefield.

His fists were tightly clenched. He also looked slightly nervous. He was feeling so many emotions at the same time. On one end, he was excited at the possibility of being free from this cursed tower. On the other end, he was scared of Gabriel's failure. If Gabriel couldn't win, it was going to bring all their hopes crashing down.

"Best of luck, young man. Make your masters proud!" he spoke in a barely audible voice that no one on the battlefield could hear.

A bright sun rested in the sky, covering the entire world in its sunlight, also making the temperature really hot. In this heat, two Mages decided to fight, both using the same elements.

"I'll give you the first attack opportunity. Show me what you're made of." Cylix placed his hands behind his back and gave Gabriel the first opportunity to attack.

The battle had finally begun with his attack invitation. However, for some reason, Gabriel didn't attack.

"I reject the invitation. I want you to attack first," Gabriel responded, thinking of something. The distance between them was too much. To attack first, he had to take the first step, which was quite a risky step in this battle.

It was a battle in which both sides knew the moves of the other side. It was like the checkers where the two opponents could reach each others' minds and wanted to prompt them to attack first. Unlike in games, there was no first move advantage in a battle against a senior.

Cylix received the same offer that he gave, which made him smile. He wondered if Gabriel realized what was going to happen if he had moved first.

"Alright. I will take the first step myself!" Cylix stretched his arms as he started walking to Gabriel. Surprisingly, he was walking so slowly that it looked like he was taking a walk in his personal garden.

Because Gabriel didn't have a proper and powerful High Tier Staff of Light, Cylix had decided that none of them were going to use any Staff. It was a battle of the mages and not their equipment.

No one was allowed to use any Numens either, which was kind of a disadvantage that was placed on Gabriel since he had most Numens here.

Watching Cylix walk closer to him, Gabriel started casting some spells on himself.

"High Strength."

"High Speed of Light."

...

As he wanted to be able to react fast and have the strength to control his body beyond its capacity, he cast booster spells on his body, investing his physical strength, defense, speed, and other characteristics.

The spells that he cast weren't the old weak booster versions. Instead, they were the same spells that Cylix taught him. Strangely enough, Cylix hadn't cast these spells on himself.

"Vision of Eternity." Gabriel cast another spell to further protect his vision against the illusions.

The light was one of the most versatile Elements, which had multiple uses like crowd control, illusion, healing, sabotage, and many more.

Amongst the spell that Gabriel was taught, the spell that concerned him the most was one of the Illusion Spells, which he believed could easily be used to make it impossible for him to see the real enemy. He made sure to stay one step away from this trick.

Cylix noticed every spell that Gabriel was casting, nodding in satisfaction. "You aren't making any rookie mistakes. However, that much won't be enough."

Finally, after Cylix was within five meters range of Gabriel, he finally cast his first spell. "High Speed of Light..."

As soon as he cast the spell, his speed increased multiple folds. Within the blink of an eye, he was right in front of Gabriel, leaving barely half a meter of a gap between the two.

"Surprise." Beautiful golden light surrounded his fist as if creating a Gauntlet.

With his entire strength behind it, Cylix punched. Even though he had the advantage, he didn't want to hurt Gabriel seriously in the first attack itself, which made him resist using the strength booster.

He knew that Gabriel probably expected the bigger spells to be used, which left him open for the most basic of spells.

When one aimed too far, they often couldn't see what was right next to them, and he believed Gabriel was making the same mistake.

"Huh? What?" Cylix expressions changed.

"Surprise indeed." Another voice came, but this time from behind Cylix.

"Step one, deflection." Standing afar, Novius had a clear view of the battlefield. Moreover, as the third person, he understood Gabriel's trick very clearly.

The first part of his plan rested on throwing Cylix in disarray by making him attack first, instead of taking the offer of attacking first. That way, he made Cylix curious as to what he was actually planning.

Next, he intentionally cast the strengthening spell to create some false smoke while his real goal was creating an illusion at that time, and he even succeeded.

While Cylix attacked the illusion, Gabriel was actually right behind him. On one end, Cylix attacked the illusion. On the other, Gabriel attacked him.

Unfortunately, a barrier of Light appeared between the two, blocking Gabriel's attack.

"Interesting indeed. Then again, just getting a jump isn't enough. You need to consider other important factors as well like the reaction time of the enemy." Cylix turned around, giving some teaching to Gabriel even in the middle of the battle. "Without that, this trick is a wasted opportunity."

Cylix once again punched, this time the real Gabriel. His fist passed through the barrier, managing to hit Gabriel, who couldn't avoid it in time.

Gabriel's body shot back like a bullet, landing on the ground twenty meters away from Cylix.

Gabriel kept his hand on his aching chest, standing up. Cylix still hadn't used the strength boost, and still, his attack was powerful enough to seriously hurt Gabriel. That was the difference between an advanced-tier mage and a mid-tier mage.

A mid-tier mage depended mostly on their spells, but an advanced Tier Mage had a much stronger body as well, helping him fight back even without spells.

Gabriel touched his bleeding lips, which had received a minor cut from his fall. He knew Cylix was right. He should've considered the reaction time of Cylix. He had wasted an opportunity.

Any ordinary Mage would've been stunned right there, unable to think at the moment on how to protect himself, but Cylix was experienced. His mind was very calm and composed, and he didn't take a single second before he cast a barrier as soon as he sensed danger.

"High Heal!" After casting a healing spell, Gabriel was once again ready for the battle.

The distance between the two was once again twenty meters, but this time Gabriel didn't wait for Cylix to come to him.

He cast a Flight Spell and flew to Cylix this time.

Two hours... The battle lasted two hours, and even now, Gabriel hadn't succeeded in defeating Cylix. No matter what, defeating Cylix using his own spells was proving to be a task much harder than imagined.

It wasn't that he knew his enemy's every move. Instead, it was also that his enemy knew all his spells that he was allowed to use, which made it impossible for Gabriel to defeat Cylix.

"As expected, it's not easy for him to defeat Cylix. Then again, it would've been strange if he could defeat us using our own spells. No matter what a prodigy he might be, in the end, we are still a tier above in this Element which he is new to."

After all this time, even Novius realized that Gabriel wasn't going to win this battle. By preventing him from using his core element and his Numens, they had basically given him a handicap.

Then again, they already expected something like this. The challenge about using them with their own Element wasn't a serious challenge at all. It was just a trick to get Gabriel to learn their spells which he could master and improve even more with time. Their trick had served its essential purpose

Gabriel's clothes were covered in blood. His face was slightly pale, and his soul was exhausted, but he still hadn't given up.

He was still standing on his feet, which in itself was shocking for Cylix. He knew that if his younger self was in Gabriel's place and he had taken that much damage, even he might have fallen by now.

Gabriel was bleeding, but his resolve wasn't. He wanted to win! He wanted to win at any cost! He couldn't afford to lose!

But how could he win? That was the question. He had already tried the High Tier Spell of Light, and it hadn't helped him much against Cylix other than exhausting his soul even more.

He swallowed a Soul Healing pill, which was his third in the last two hours of battle, before casting another Healing Spell. He had already stopped caring about his clothes, which were covered in his blood now.

"I think that's enough." Seeing Gabriel in this condition, even Cylix shook his head. He also realized that this was a futile effort. Gabriel couldn't defeat him like this. He couldn't defeat him without using his original Element of Necromancy, which was still the core of Gabriel's strength!

"You can't defeat me like this!" Cylix declared.

"Try me!" Gabriel responded, wiping the blood off his lips before he flew again, once again attacking.

Boom~

As Gabriel flew to Cylix to attack again, he failed once more. Even now, Cylix had managed to best him. No matter what, Gabriel wasn't as good as Cylix when it came to controlling the Light, partially thanks to his Mid Tier Magical strength.

The battle hadn't been on equal footing ever since the beginning since even though they were both using the same element, Cylix was superior in everything from battle experience with the Element of Light to Magical Strength.

Gabriel was faster than Cylix when it came to learning the spells, but in battles, that didn't play much of a role.

Gabriel's body flew back once again, being hit by an Explosion of Light.

He fell in the distance, scratching his knees, which also started bleeding now, similar to his arms.

"Gabriel, this is enough! I know you can't win this battle without using your main element, and even you should know that much. You are just getting hurt for no reason now. You lost this battle already! This is where we'll be ending it."

Cylix had already had enough. He didn't want to go through it more since it just looked like he was bullying Gabriel at this point by making him fight with this handicap. He had decided to fight him again, but next time without placing any restriction on him related to his main Element. But before that, he wanted Gabriel to rest.

In this long battle, Gabriel had exhausted his Soul a lot. He needed proper rest.

"Novius, that will be the end!" he called out to Novius in the back.

"I told you I haven't lost!" Gabriel roared, still not giving up. Even now, he forced his body too, not taking this defeat!

"I will defeat you today, following your rules!" he exclaimed, wiping his blood from his lips again.

According to the rules he was given, he couldn't use any pure spells of darkness or his Original Element. He had to only use the spells of Element of Light and the spells that were related to it. At the same time, he couldn't use Numens or the Infernal Emperor, and he had decided to follow the rules.

No matter what, he had to win this battle today! He didn't know what it was, but there was just a strange feeling inside his heart that was telling him that he couldn't lose! He had to win! For some reason, he was scared of defeat today, and that fear was also stimulating his inner strength even more.

As he challenged Cylix, something about him was different this time, and it wasn't just his undying determination.

There were two marks on his left hand, and both were shining at the moment at the same time! His Element of Darkness and Element of Light were both shining as bright as they could for some reason...

"This... Is he...?" Novius' lips opened wide as he saw the change in the battlefield

A dark barrier appeared all around Cylix as if made from black flames. The barrier spread out, surrounding Cylix from all sides. Within seconds, Cylix was entrapped in the black barrier.

"He did learn it," Novius commented in the distance, quite amazed. They had taught Gabriel everything that they knew, and which included the spell which needed both of them to be present to cast.

Unfortunately, unlike the other spells, Gabriel hadn't managed to master that last spell since it needed two elements to work at the same time simultaneously.

When there were two people casting that spell, both of them could handle one Element and make the spell succeed, but even that wasn't easy. On the other hand, Gabriel had an extra task that he had to do both things alone, which he kept failing into.

No matter what he tried, he hadn't managed to get the spell working in unison. However, if he could, then that spell was certainly a part of this challenge and didn't go against the Challenge as it was considered a Light spell as well, with some added parts.

Cylix saw the barrier around him which had captured him. He knew he could leave the barrier, but not without giving it some time, and that much time was enough for Gabriel. Escape wasn't worth it since, in the time he could get out of the barrier, everything was going to be over.

Either the spell was going to be completed by that time, or the spell was going to fail, only to be known as a good attempt later on.

Gabriel didn't look like he was in any mood to fail. He hadn't managed to cast this spell before, even though he knew how to. All because his Elements just refused to work at exactly the same time. That was an entirely different thing which even Cylix and Novius didn't know how to help him with.

That was also why they didn't force him to use this spell, knowing it was going to take time. They expected Gabriel to take a few years after leaving this tower to successfully use that spell, but not this time.

The darkness around the barrier wasn't just sealing the physical space but also invading the corporeal space, sealing all teleportation spells inside the barrier.

It was like Gabriel was casting two High Grade Spells at the same time; one was to seal the space, and the other...

Boom-

A powerful explosion took place inside the barrier, filling the entire space in bright light.

The explosion was so powerful that even the barrier of darkness shattered, but it had done its job by then. It had kept Cylix in place for long enough.

Cylix's body flew back, coming in contact with the explosion. For the first time, he was seriously hurt. Quite a lot of his skin was burnt. His shirt was already destroyed, revealing his bleeding chest. Cylix had taken some serious damage.

He wasn't alone though. Just for casting that spell, Gabriel felt like almost fainting. It really was too much for him.

"Can't yet!" he declared, somehow finding some strength to still hold on. He brought the soul healing pill and placed it in his mouth before chasing after Cylix.

He knew he couldn't afford to go down now. He had finally received some upper hand as his spell didn't just hurt Cylix, but it also had another effect... The effect of stunning the enemy, slowing down their thoughts, for a few minutes.

"He succeeded. This kid... Seriously... How is he still standing after all that?" Novius had already been impressed by Gabriel, but this was something different. Gabriel's conviction was what kept him going even after all this.

As soon as Cylix managed to land on the ground, he couldn't even cast a healing spell when he saw Gabriel right next to him.

"Soul Weakening!"

"Aura Submersion."

"Mind Slowdown."

Gabriel cast spells one after another, all of which needed him to be in contact with the enemy, and that's exactly where he was.

At the same time as he cast this spell, he flew up, casting a flight spell, finding only Cylix by his neck, who couldn't move. Cylix's mind was still dazed, and his body was weakened. He couldn't even think that he needed to cast a healing spell on himself.

After flying around ten meters up, Gabriel tossed Cylix on the ground.

Bang ~

Cylix's body crashed on the hard surface. Even though his body was strong enough, just the impact of that fall was still enough to hurt him, creating a crater around him.

This was the time... The opportunity that he was waiting for!

Gabriel appeared right next to Cylix.

"Spear of Light!" he cast another spell, creating a spear purely from the Element of Light. Since he couldn't use a Numen, he could only rely on weapons like this.

He thrust the spear down at Cylix, who was still inside the crater.

Novius closed his eyes. This was the time where his friend was going to get the freedom that he was looking for. Despite all that, he still looked somewhat sad. He couldn't watch his friend die, even though it was a good thing.

A few minutes passed, yet there was no noise, which made Novius frown. He slowly opened his eyes, wondering if everything was over.

"Huh?" As soon as he opened his eyes, he noticed that things were quite different.

The spear was still in Gabriel's hand; however, it wasn't stabbed into Cylix's chest. The tip of the spear was stopped barely an inch away from Cylix's chest. Moreover, it wasn't any spell of Cylix which was stopping Gabriel.

It was Gabriel himself who stopped himself, unable to go through with it.

Gabriel held his spear tightly, stopping it. He could finish this battle if he wanted, but he couldn't get himself to kill Cylix like that.

Cylix also came out of his spell induced daze by now, noticing the tip of the spear right next to his chest. Just a little push, and he was going to be dead.

"Why did you stop?" he asked, still lying inside the crater with the spear right above him. If he even sat up a little, the spear could hit him.

"I have defeated you. This is enough," Gabriel responded, even though the reason behind his hesitation was slightly different.

These people had been like the teachers that he always wanted in his childhood. In such a short time, they had become no less than his friends and family. When he tried to go through with killing Cylix, that slight hesitation stopped him.

Moreover, the challenge was about Gabriel winning. He could win without even killing them. At least, that's what he thought.

Cylix saw Gabriel's hesitation, momentarily getting stunned.

"Ha...hahaha… Hahahahaha!"

He covered his face with his hands as he burst into a laughter, but it wasn't a mocking laughter. It was something else... Something much more emotional.

In Gabriel's eyes, he could see the respect that he had never expected. Even though they didn't show Gabriel their intentions to teach him, always hiding behind excuses as to why they were training him, the young kid still treated them like teachers.

After a long time, Cylix stopped laughing and flashed a weak smile filled with gratitude.

Young Cylix was left here by the main Cylix before they could even get real students in the outside World. These versions of Cylix and Novius hadn't experienced what it was like to have a student, but with Gabriel, they had received the missing puzzle of their life.

Now they had achieved everything. Even though the top floor was on the line, Gabriel still couldn't get himself to kill them.

"Gabriel... Thank you..." Cylix said. His voice was slightly unusual now as this time; it wasn't filled with his usual authority. It was more like a man who had received everything he wanted in his life, having no desires left.

"Unfortunately, you can't get to the top floor unless you kill us... So do it. Take the final step..." Cylix insisted. Even though he was back now and could fight back, he had accepted his defeat already. If it were anyone other than Gabriel, he would've already been dead after all.

"If you don't kill us, you can't get to the top floor... You must do it. Don't worry about us! It's not bad to be free after all these years..." Cylix stated, but Gabriel still didn't push the spear ahead.

In the outside World, he was often confused as to who was a good guy and who wasn't since everyone had a hidden side that they didn't show. Even from Lira, he had received the same impression when he met her, that there was something inside her that she wasn't showing, which made him always keep his guard around her.

However, with Cylix and Novius, it was different. Even though these two claimed that they were training him because they didn't want a boring challenge or because they wanted to make this trial harder for him by restricting his Origin Element in the battles, he could feel that there was something more to it.

Through the conversations they had in the last month, the time they spent under the moonlight, it was different. They didn't look like they were just teaching him for the sake of it. They were like real teachers who genuinely helped him, scolding him at times and praising him at others.

Gabriel raised his head. He couldn't see the hundredth floor from here and only the sky. However, he knew that the hundredth Floor was going to have some nice treasures for sure... Maybe treasures that could help him even more.

However, there was one question in his head. Could those treasures really be better than the knowledge Cylix and Novius had imparted to him?

In his left hand, he still had the Soul Healing Pill that made it possible for him to at least stand in this battle for so long. He glanced at the pill given to him by Cylix.

There was a strong dilemma in his head. On one side, he wanted to think logically, and that required him to kill Cylix. In any case, Cylix was just a spiritual form and not a real person. However, on the other end, he didn't want to repay Cylix's gratitude with death.

"Is there no other way to get to the hundredth floor?" he asked Cylix, wondering if there really was no other option.

Cylix shook his head. "There is none. You must kill the Guardians of the Floor, which is us. So do it... Take the step!"

Gabriel took a deep breath as he prepared himself. However, just as he was about to thrust his spear, he stopped again.

"Gabriel..." Cylix saw the same hesitation again. "Please... Do it. This is the freedom we craved for all our life! We have been waiting for this moment. If you think we helped you even a little, and want to repay it, then kill us! That will be your best gift to us! Free us from this World! You can't stop after coming this far..."

Gabriel raised his head and looked at Novius in the distance. Were these people really tormented on this floor? They really wanted freedom?

In the distance, Novius also saw Gabriel's hesitation. After seeing Gabriel look in his direction, he just nodded as if talking through his eyes.

"Finally, we can be free..." Cylix stated. "Finally, we can merge with the real stars instead of looking at the fake sky in this fake world... Finally, we can be free of our prison... You have no idea how long I waited for this moment. For someone to rightfully defeat me."

With more information, Gabriel believed their words. He had always seen something strange in their eyes as if they were the eyes of the people who had been trapped in a dark cell all their lives and craved for freedom. This was their freedom...

Gabriel tightened his grip around the Spear of Light. Even though it was a hard decision, he couldn't keep them imprisoned in this place.

"Thank you... For everything..." Gabriel's voice fell in Cylix's ears before a spear stabbed straight into his chest, right where his heart was supposed to be.

Cylix didn't grunt in pain. Even though his face was pale, he didn't feel hurt. Instead, he looked as if he was filled with gratitude.

"I... couldn't have asked... for a better student..." Cylix stated as his body started disappearing. "I hope you get the happiness you're looking for as well..."

Slowly his body turned into specks of light. Before Gabriel could even respond, Cylix's body disappeared entirely.

At around the same time, Gabriel's spear also disappeared as he also dropped to the ground, finally losing his own consciousness as well. He had been forcing his body throughout the battle, but eventually, all the damage caught up.

Seeing Gabriel call, Novius appeared right next to him, checking to see if he was fine.

As he was checking Gabriel, even he didn't see that a small speck of light had entered Gabriel's ring, disappearing into it.

"Just unconscious... This kid... He really pushed himself today." Novius picked Gabriel in his arms to take him back, but not before glancing one last time at the exact spot where Cylix had died.

"Have a safe journey, old friend."

Gabriel was lying on a bed in a peculiar room that was much smaller than the throne room. There was only one bed inside the room, and on the bed, Gabriel seemed to be sleeping.

His clothes were different than before, as his old clothes were either destroyed or covered in blood in the battle.

The clothes he was in now were the same that he was wearing when he entered the Tower of Challenges. It was the attire that he had received when he got the Ancestral Staff of Necromancy.

Just for the battle with Cylix, he had taken off the clothes that could easily be considered Numens. In any case, his clothes weren't ordinary. Instead of them, he wore ordinary clothes before the battle.

Now that his special clothes were back on his body, thanks to Novius, he felt much more comfortable since his attire was filling him with a familiar and comforting feeling. The attire was also healing his physical wounds much faster.

Novius also fed Gabriel some Soul Healing Pills to help his soul recover, but it wasn't as easy this time.

For his hunger for victory, Gabriel had used too many High Ranking spells! As if that wasn't enough, he even used the 'Divine Entrapment of Light and Darkness' in the end, which was a bit too much for him even when he was at his best, let alone when his soul was already exhausted after two hours of battle.

Just the fact that Gabriel hadn't passed out right away after casting that spell in itself was stunning for Novius.

Novius sat right next to Gabriel, watching the unconscious young boy. "Just why...?"

He was happy that Gabriel succeeded, but he didn't understand why the boy pushed himself in harm's way like that. Why did he want to win so badly? If he wanted to, he could've tried next time. He could've even used his Origin later, but he didn't. Even at his own risk, he went forward with the challenge and stuck to the rules even till the end.

Novius placed his hand on the forehead of Gabriel, checking if the kid had any fever.

'As expected, even with healing and the pills, he has a fever. This boy...'

As soon as Novius touched his forehead, he realized that Gabriel had a fever, and it wasn't a weak fever at all.

"You know your hand is really cold." A voice came, surprising Novius.

"You are up?" he asked.

Gabriel moved Novius' hand from his forehead as he opened his eyes, which looked tired.

"No, I'm talking in sleep," Gabriel commented, slightly amused that Novius was really asking this question even after seeing everything.

Novius was sitting to his left. After answering him, he glanced to his right. If Cylix were here, he would've been standing to the right, asking him if he was good while scolding him for being so reckless.

For some reason, he was missing Cylix's presence. In such a short time, he had become so accustomed to them. If only the people outside were like them.

"I really killed him, didn't I?" he asked Novius, trying to sit up.

Even though his head was aching and he had a fever, he didn't care.

"You did what he wanted. Don't blame yourself." Novius sighed. "Taking lives isn't always wrong... Sometimes, it can also be a form of mercy."

He further continued, "As death is mostly used for punishment and revenge, people often forget that it's not even a fraction of death's essence. Death isn't just a form of punishment. It's much more."

"Sometimes it can also be a reward, a doorway to a new and a better life... You didn't take his life. You freed him from these shackles that were keeping him trapped here, and that's what he wanted."

Gabriel nodded, still feeling a bit empty with the absence of Cylix, but maybe this was it? A lesson to him that nothing was permanent.

"You want to die as well?" he asked Novius. The same shackles that were keeping Cylix here were the ones that kept Novius here as well. Both spent the same amount of time here as well, so it wasn't hard to guess.

Novius only smiled in response. He didn't say anything, but his expressions were enough to answer.

"Enough talking. Rest now. I'll give you some privacy." Novius knew that Gabriel had a fever, and no medicine they had was going to work on him for this because of the obstruction with his unusual Element.

Moreover, Cylix knew about healing much more than him. He couldn't do anything other than letting Gabriel's body naturally heal with time. And for that, he needed lots of rest.

"Oh, one thing I forgot..." Novius stopped before the door and turned around, revealing a small box in his hand.

"This is from Cylix to you," he explained. "He asked me to give this to you if you succeed in killing him. This is his last gift for you..."

He placed the small box on the bed before leaving.

Gabriel was left all alone in the room with the small box.

Gabriel's hands were still shaking a little as his soul was still in the process of healing. He picked up the small box and brought it closer to him.

This was what Cylix left him... The last gift from the man who had given him so much.

People said knowledge was the biggest gift a person could give, and Cylix had imparted all his knowledge to Gabriel, along with everything else that he had. He left everything to the only person he ever had as a student...

Gabriel gazed at the beautiful silver box that was made from some kind of metal that was very light yet very firm.

He slowly opened the box, noticing the first thing that was inside the small box... It was a folded piece of paper.

Gabriel picked up the piece of paper and unfolded it. It was only when he unfolded the piece of paper that he realized that it was a letter written by Cylix.

[A few days ago]

Gabriel was sleeping peacefully under the starry sky. Tomorrow was supposed to be his battle with Cylix, and he was told to get plenty of rest.

As Gabriel slept, Cylix sat near him with a letter and a pen in his hand, writing something.

"Dear Gabriel,

Since you're reading this letter, It would be safe to assume that I'm no longer alive... if I could even call myself that."

He glanced at Gabriel as soon as he finished writing his first paragraph.

"I don't know if I thanked you before dying or if I didn't have a chance, but if it's the latter, I will tell you now. Thank you... Thank you... Thank you so much!"

"I have so many things to tell you, and I don't know where to start. I've never liked being emotional, as I thought that it depicted weakness. I know if I tell this to you, even I will find myself pathetic for letting my emotions get the best of me. That leaves me no choice but to write what I wanted to tell you all this time..."

"Throughout the centuries, Novius and I have spent most of our life in this tower, feeling trapped. People run from death, but it's only after you live long enough that you realize what a privilege death truly becomes..."

Cylix took another pause from writing, gazing at the stars above. "Thank you for granting me that privilege."

He further continued writing his thoughts in the silence of the night.

"After my family was wiped out, I had no one left in this world. I started closing myself from this cruel world, and I see some of that in you as well."

"Fortunately, that's when I met Novius, and he became a part of my family... The person who finally made me change my perspective and open up. In this world, he was all I had, and I was all he had in the name of family. I didn't believe someone else could become a part of this family, at least in this lifetime..."

"However, in such a short time, you've made me realize how wrong I was. Not just in judging your attention but also in everything else as well.*

"In the last few weeks, even we didn't realize when it happened, but we started considering you a part of our family and not just a disciple... You were the little brother that we never had... The little brother that we wanted to protect. The little brother that we would be leaving all alone in this world after we die. That's why we wanted to give you a gift... A gift of strength."

"You might think we were being biased to torture you by setting a restriction that you must defeat us with our own elements, but that's the only way we had to give you enough motivation to train. And since you've managed to kill me with that rule, I would like to think that we succeeded."

"We didn't do it because we wanted to make it impossible for you to defeat us. Instead, we did it so you could become stronger... Strong enough to protect yourself."

"When you go out of this tower, we won't be there to protect you. However, we hope that the knowledge we gave you will be able to help you in your times of need. If it can, no one would be happier than us! So please don't think of us as bad people. And lastly, don't think of yourself as a bad person."

"I gave you the most precious thing I could, knowledge. But that's not everything your master is leaving for you... I hope you enjoy your gifts. And stay safe... That's all I ask."

After finishing, Cylix folded the letter and placed it inside a small box that disappeared.

He stood up and walked closer to Gabriel, looking down at him. "I really hope you succeed tomorrow in the battle. However, I'm not going easy on you. If you can't even defeat me here, that means you aren't ready to face the world."

" I won't cheat you by going easy on you. Therefore, you'll be facing the strongest of me. So let me see... Let me see what miracles you can do with my Element, little brother."

[Present day]

Gabriel went through the letter, reading paragraph after paragraph. He didn't know why, but after going through the letter, he felt even more heavy on the inside.

"Family, huh..." He placed the letter safely inside his Spatial Storage, not wanting to lose it. If anything, this was the biggest gift that Cylix left him... Being called family by a person known as one of the strongest of his time.

"One family that wants to kill you for the safety of strangers," he muttered, remembering Maya. "And another family that wants you to kill them for their freedom."

He couldn't help but shake his head. It was as if he had received a family, only to lose it eventually. First, he lost his mother when he was very young. And next, he lost his other family because... They tried to kill him. And in this case, it was within a month.

Still, he preferred Cylix and Novius much more than he did Maya and her family. He felt much closer to them. For Maya and her family, that stabbed him while he was protecting them, he only had anger. But for Cylix and Novius, he felt sadness.

The two had really been trapped here for centuries, going crazy. It was surprising they were still sane.

After keeping the letter safely, he shifted his attention to the other items in the box.

One of the items was a beautiful golden key. He picked up the key but didn't know what it was. What did this key unlock? There was no mention of this key in the letter at all.

Observing the key from closer, he could see that there were some small symbols on it. Not only were these symbols too small, but they were also hard to recognize. He hadn't seen such symbols before, at least.

"Novius might be able to tell." He placed the key to the side and picked up the next item, which was a beautiful white ring.

As soon as he picked up the ring, he felt extremely cold. It was as if the ring was made of ice.

"A Numen?" Not only was the ring cold to touch, but it was also resisting being held by him for some reason which made Gabriel understand that it was also a Numen. But which Numen?

"I see you've started opening your presents already." Around the same time, Novius also returned with some more medicine.

He placed the plate with the medicine on the bed. "I'm not great at alchemy like Cylix, but I've tried my best. Eat it. This might provide some relief in your fever."

"What is this ring?" Gabriel asked Novius. More than his fever, he seemed concerned about this white ring.

Novius briefly observed the ring. "The Ring of Ice King... Cylix's most precious Numen. He didn't even let me touch it. He was so protective of it."

Gabriel observed the ring. If even Novius talked so highly of it, that meant the ring was definitely exceptional. He could also feel the strength from the ring.

It was certainly a tier above the Sword of Ulien. If Ulien was a powerful demigod, then the Demigod this ring originated from was most certainly a high tier Demigod, maybe even near the Peak.

So far, these were only his guesses since he had never heard of the Ice King to know more about it. It was his first time hearing that name.

"Who was the Ice King?" Gabriel asked Novius. Before knowing about the ring, he wanted to know more about the person that this ring came from... That was what could help him understand the true essence of the ring.

It was clear that the Ring was Cylix's gift to him... The most precious gift he could think of that he always kept with him.

"The Ice King... Even though I don't know much about him, from the few things I heard about him, he was very powerful. He was called the Wargod of the North. Another peculiar thing about him was that he wasn't very fond of the other Demigods."

Most of the history about the past was gone, erased, or hidden from the world. There were also many things that were forever lost, including many scriptures related to the Demigods. Even Cylix and Novius didn't have much information about that, despite being such high tier beings of their time.

Still, Novius didn't keep anything hidden, telling Gabriel everything he had managed to find out about the Ice King.

"Most of the high tier Demigods lived in the city of Gods in the middle plains, but the Ice King lived high in the freezing North. We also heard about there being a battle between the Ice King and the other Demigods from the center, but what happened in the battle... Your guess would be as good as mine."

"The ring was first discovered by ordinary humans, who didn't know its true worth. He sold the ring to a jeweler for a few silver coins. From there, the ring kept changing hands. All that time, the ring never fell in the hands of a mage, remaining under the radar."

"How can humans not know that it's a special ring? Did they not feel the cold?" Gabriel asked, slightly confused. As soon as he touched the ring, he felt a chilling cold in his entire hand. How could the humans think that it was an ordinary ring?

"The cold you felt is only because the ring is resisting you. With ordinary humans, the ring doesn't need to resist since it knows the ordinary humans can never bind it, but in the hands of the mages, it senses the risk of being bound. The cold that you feel is the warning of this ring."

"That's also why the humans didn't know how special it was. One day, a woman took a liking to the ring after seeing it on the fingers of another person. She bought it from the current owner at an exorbitant cost."

"The ring that you hold in your hands has way more significance than just being a Numen..."

Novius placed his hand in the small box, picking up something. It was a small portrait...

He opened the portrait, realizing what it was since he had seen it before. He placed the portrait before Gabriel.

In the portrait, Gabriel could see three people drawn... One was a woman who looked like in her early thirties, and the other was a man who looked slightly older.

In the middle, there was a young boy who was only fourteen years old. The similarities between the young boy and Cylix were uncanny. It was clear that the young man was Cylix when he was young. That meant the portrait... It belonged to his family.

In the portrait, Gabriel could see the ring of Ice King on the fingers of the Woman.

"The last person to buy that ring... She was none other than Cylix's mother. The ring wasn't just a treasure of his. It was also the last thing that he had received from his mother before his family was wiped out. That's why he kept that ring so safe."

"He gave that ring to you, passing his legacy. You should be able to bind it easily as well. That will tell you more about how this ring can be used since even I'm not sure about everything."

Gabriel initially thought that the ring was like a treasure from the Academy that the mages found from all around the world, but this was different. This was like a family heirloom for Cylix, which he passed on to Gabriel. A gift he was entrusted with.

Gabriel bit his thumb right away, making a binding formation on the beautiful ring with his blood. Even in this weakened condition, he didn't want to delay it.

Unsurprisingly, the ring binding was successful as well. As soon as the binding finished, Gabriel received more information from the ring, including its abilities that could be used. The ring had become a part of him now. Through that information, he was also able to decipher that the ring had similar spatial properties to the ring of Apophis.

It could also fly back to its owner through space, no matter how far away it was.

Gabriel wore the ring in his left hand where his Mark of Element of Light was with respect to Cylix, who was a mage of light. Gabriel now had one ring on each of his fingers.

"You can use this ring in the battle with me," Novius informed Gabriel. "I will consider it a part of your strength."

Gabriel didn't answer immediately. He just shook his head as he picked up the next scroll in the box.

"I won't use it in battle. The rules remain the same. I promise I will give you the freedom you are looking for, but I won't cheat for that... I'll use everything I have related to Darkness. I won't lose," he declared as he slowly opened the scroll, which was the last thing in the box that was left to him by Cylix.

When Gabriel opened the scroll, he didn't know what to expect. Was there another letter in the scroll? Was there a map? Or was there some secret skill in it?

It was only when he completely opened the scroll that he realized it was none of that. There was just something else in the scroll.

As soon as he opened the scroll, he went blank.

Novius knew that Cylix was going to give the Ring of Ice King to Gabriel, but other than that, even he didn't know what was inside the box.

He didn't know what was in the scroll that could make Gabriel so stunned.

Gabriel was someone who was accustomed to controlling his emotions, at least on his face. He rarely showed what he was thinking, but in this case, even he failed, mostly because even he didn't know what he was feeling.

All he knew was that there was sadness in his heart... Extreme sadness as if he had lost something fundamental.

Curious as to what was in the scroll, Novius also stepped forward to see himself just what it was.

Soon enough, he got a clear view of what Gabriel was looking at, even he

On the scroll, there wasn't any skill or any mysterious artifact map. On the scroll, there was only a simple painting that Cylix made with his own hands.

He could see another portrait. "He made his portrait himself... I can see it."

The portrait depicted a beautiful sky filled with stars. Right under the stars, there was a beautiful green field. Three people could be seen sitting there.

On the left, there was Cylix, who still had a kingly look. He was in the same set of clothes that he wore when he met Gabriel for the first time. On the right, there was Novius, and in the middle, there was Gabriel.

In the painting, all three of them looked really happy... Gabriel could also remember the scene that was depicted in the painting. It was from the night right before his battle with Cylix.

He still remembered the instance where Cylix and Novius were bickering like kids, which had made him smile. That smile was depicted so beautifully by Cylix.

It wasn't just a painting for Gabriel... It was a piece of history that Cylix thought was worth saving... His history that he was always going to cherish.

Under the portrait, there were only a few words written. "Always with you."

"That night... was indeed beautiful..." Gabriel muttered as he closed the scroll. He kept the scroll in his Spatial Storage, protecting him from ever being harmed. This piece of history... He was never going to lose it as it was a part of him now.

The family that he had made within the last month... It was precious as it taught him that he wasn't alone. No matter how hard the journey ahead was going to be, he had the legacy of Cylix and Novius! He had to survive at any cost, no matter who the enemy was!

After keeping the box back in his storage space as well, he looked at Novius. He was the last person here, but sooner or later, he was going to be gone as well.

"Stop looking at me like that. I am not dead yet," Novius rolled his eyes, understanding what Gabriel was thinking. "And at the rate you are healing; I doubt you'll succeed anytime soon. So get better fast. And start by eating all your medicine!"

War was on the horizon for the City of Abadon. The army of the Two Churches had already gathered around the city, completely surrounding it from every side.

Even the City of Abadon had finished its preparation for the war, at least as much as they could in this situation. Now all that was left was to wait for the invasion. The City of Abadon couldn't fight until the enemies were inside the city. They didn't have the first move advantage.

"Their numbers increased even more," the maid informed Lambard about the number of enemies outside.

"It seems they are almost ready in that case. There should be no more reinforcements coming for now. It should start soon."

Lambard was sitting near the window, drinking his favorite tea. "How sad... The peace in this city that I worked so hard to maintain is going to be gone. Even if we won this war, they might come with even more help from other Churches. What a headache... Exactly the thing I was worried about."

"The only way to stop this from happening again is by striking fear in the heart of the Churches!" he declared. "This is one war we can't lose... We must destroy them... Destroyed them overwhelmingly," he stated. "We can't allow anyone to escape either. You understand what I'm saying?"

The maid nodded. "Yes. If anyone managed to escape, they could bring more help, even informing them of our secrets."

"Yes." Lambard nodded. "Information about what will happen shouldn't go outside the city. If we can kill the forces of both the Churches this time, that might bring some peace back. Even if the other Churches found out that we destroyed the forces of Two Churches, including the Holy Priests, they would think twice before attacking us, wondering how we did it."

"Even if it's the Churches, they won't attack something they had no information about. Fear is a powerful tool, after all. Either that or they will strike with even more force. Even though I doubt it'll be the latter, we can't ignore the possibility."

"What a mess indeed." He rubbed his forehead after returning the teacup to the maid behind him. "All because of that boy."

"I thought the kid with the Origin Element would bring me more Artefacts and more influence, but all he brought for me was this headache. People are right. Even if you give a donkey the greatest of skills, it'll always be a donkey. Skills can't change intelligence."

"I should've seen it coming... I let myself get too excited by the appearance of the Origin Element..."

Even though Lambard was so close to this war, he still couldn't get his mind off Gabriel.

"Do you want me to bring him back after this war so you can punish him?" the maid asked Lambard.

"Yeah. No matter what happens in this war, I certainly want to meet the boy personally. I really have to 'thank' him for this favor after all," Lambard stated sarcastically. "Maybe we'll be able to trade one of the High Priests of Light in exchange for the kid. We will see..."

Oooooo~

Lambard had just finished speaking when he heard a warhorn, signaling the beginning of the battle. The sound of that warhorn was heard all around the city.

The commoners who lived in the city hid inside the houses while the mages readied themselves for what was to come.

The sky above the city started turning dark as roars of thunder spread far and wide, all thanks to a High Tier Spell cast by the Holy Priestess of Thunder, who took the first attack!

Thousands of mighty Lightning Bolts came crashing down, enough to destroy any city at once!

Powerful lightning bolts came crashing down as if they were the divine punishment from Heaven itself.

Standing on the balcony, Lambard watched the Lightning fall.

"And so it begins..."

A beautiful golden dome appeared all around the city, preventing the city from the wrath of the Holy Priestess of Lightning, at least for now.

After being attacked by Gabriel, Lira had left the forest near Lumen City, where she was staying, imagining Gabriel to be dead from her curse.

Even though he was dead according to her, she still needed to find the whereabouts of the Ancestral Staff of Darkness, and the only person she believed could help him was Lambard.

Unfortunately, the sight before her wasn't pleasant. She could see hundreds of Mages in the distance. More than half of them belonged to the Church of Lightning, while the rest belonged to the Church of Water. There were also a few Head Priests here who were from the Church of Light.

Seeing the massive force, she understood a few times. They were the same people that had left the Lumen City. The attack was certainly motivated by whatever happened in the Lumen City and was related to Gabriel.

She knew she had to get inside the city somehow. However, as soon as she took another step toward the city, a mysterious voice echoed in her head.

"Don't make that mistake."

She stopped in her tracks.

The mysterious voice told her that even someone as strong as her couldn't pass through this encirclement.

"If you even tried, before you know it, you would be fighting with two Holy Priestesses."

Lira's face was already pale. She still hadn't recovered completely from her battle with Gabriel. Her magical strength was even weaker than it was initially. She wasn't in any condition to fight the Holy Priestesses at the moment.

A bright clash covered the surroundings, even making Lira momentarily close her eyes as the lightning clashed with the barrier of the city. The battle had started.

Lira watched the start of the battle. She didn't know if Lambard could survive an invasion of this stage, even though he had the Defensive City of Abadon.

Lira stopped in her tracks and didn't approach the city. Instead, she started stepping back, not knowing what to do next. It was clear that Lambard had troubles of his own. He wasn't going to help her unless she could help him, and she wasn't in any condition to help anyone else.

"It's his battle... If he survives, good. If he doesn't, then it's his destiny," the grim voice told Lira. "Your destiny is different... No need to involve yourself in this battle. You aren't strong enough yet, especially after what happened."

"And what is my destiny?" Lira asked, not surprised. It was as if she was very familiar with that voice. "I couldn't even defeat Gabriel properly. I had to run away after using a trick attack to kill him."

"If you hadn't left, you would've been dead," the mysterious voice told Lira. "It's not your fault... It's mine. I should've known what he was capable of. I should've made a better plan when I told you to approach him."

The mysterious voice sounded a bit disappointed as well. "What a waste... If only he had brought the staff back to us, we could've used the Mind Restraint to make him forever loyal to us. The Staff would've finally made you capable of casting that spell. He would've made a fine addition..."

"There are not many Initial Stage Holy Priests, after all. Every new Holy Priest is protected by the Church like a precious treasure until they and their mind are strong enough to resist such spells. Gabriel was all alone..."

"Do you think he knew what we wanted to do?" Lira asked in response as she turned around and started walking away from the battlefield, occasionally hearing the sounds of an explosion behind her.

Even though she had approached Gabriel for a reason, she really did appreciate his company. She hadn't expected him to take a step like this.

"I don't know... Even I can't read the minds of the ones protected by the Grimoires, but I don't think he could've known. There was no way for him to know. Then again, maybe he was like you. Hiding behind a facade? He made us believe that he was working for us, only using us..."

Lira momentarily went silent as the explosions behind her intensified along with the attack of the Churches.

She seemed more distracted by her thoughts.

After a long pause, she finally spoke. "Do you know how he had that much strength? How was he able to fight back in my Domain where he should've been helpless? You said I was invincible in my Prison of Darkness."

The mysterious voice didn't answer. Even it didn't know the answer to this question. He was as surprised as Lira when he saw what had happened. That was something even he hadn't seen before.

A Spirit shouldn't have been able to fight back like that, even in Lira's Domain. Moreover, the strength that Gabriel had shown wasn't something that a Mage was supposed to possess...

None of that had the answer to this question. The silence was understood by Lira. She realized that the voice only went silent when it didn't have an answer.

After a long time, the voice finally spoke, "We need to retrieve the Ancestral Staff of Darkness at any cost. But before that, you need to increase your magical strength even more."

"That entire battle weakened your Magical strength. Before doing anything else, regain your old strength. If Lambard is still alive until then, approach him. If he isn't alive, then we will need to find another way to retrieve the Ancestral Staff of Darkness! That is the most important key in what we have to achieve!"

Lira agreed. "The Ancestral Staff of Darkness...

The Ancestral Staff of Darkness was called out by Gabriel, who practiced his Dark Spells a few more times.

Two days had passed since his battle with Cylix, and he had finally healed. Despite being healed, he didn't immediately ask for a battle.

His body might've healed, but his soul was still not at a hundred percent. He could've fought even now, but he didn't want to disrespect Novius by fighting him when he couldn't even give his hundred percent. Moreover, he wanted to be able to cast high-tier spells in battle.

Even if he did fight now, he knew he wasn't going to win without giving it his all. Even winning against Cylix took it his all.

His battle with Novius was different though, as it allowed both of them to use the Magical Staffs in battle.

Gabriel was new to using the Ancestral Staff of Darkness. He wanted to understand how to use it as much as he could and get accustomed to it in the meantime.

His battle with Novius allowed both of them to use Magical Staffs to boost the strength of their spells, unlike his battle with Cylix, which was mostly raw.

His battle with Cylix tested their raw Magical Strength expertise without any Magical Staff boost. However, his battle with Novius was going to test their maximum magical potential in battle when they had their Magical Staffs and could use their spells at their full potential.

This was also what made this battle even more dangerous for both of them.

"Dark Poison!" Gabriel exclaimed, tapping the other end of his Ancestral Staff of Darkness on the ground, using one of the spells in his practice.

Standing in the distance, Novius watched Gabriel practice all alone.

There were many times when he forgot that Cylix was dead, only to realize later that he was alone when he received only silence in response. He still hadn't gotten accustomed to the fact that he was the last of them left here.

"The world is really in for a surprise when Gabriel leaves this place. The person who entered this place was a young man who had immense potential but not enough knowledge to complement that potential, but now..."

"I suppose I should also prepare my inheritance for him," he muttered, looking at the small box that was lying in the distance.

Seven hours later~

Novius returned, noticing that Gabriel was still training.

He appeared right next to Gabriel, who was tired yet still full of spirit. "That should be enough. Time to eat. Your body needs some energy and rest."

"Just a little more," Gabriel responded, not stopping.

Novius didn't take no for an answer as he changed the surroundings once again, bringing it back to their usual favorite place... A beautiful starry sky above a green field.

Multiple delicious dishes appeared before Gabriel on the ground. "Eat up and stop looking at me like that. If you want to train more, do it tomorrow."

He also sat on the ground, refusing to change the surroundings back to the battlefield even though Gabriel wanted to train more.

Gabriel scratched the back of his head, sighing. Even though he looked discontent and upset, on the inside, for some reason, there was an unknown sense of happiness that he hadn't experienced in a long time.

Before his mother had died, even she used to scold him for not eating, forcing him to eat. Maya's family was different as they never did anything like this even when he didn't eat. This brought so many memories back.

He sent his Ancestral Staff of Darkness back to hide inside his Mark of Darkness before sitting down as well.

He started eating, later realizing that he was the only one eating there. Novius was just sitting and watching.

He slid a plate closer to Novius as well. "You need to eat as well."

"It's fine. I'm not feeling hungry," Novius answered. "Moreover, I'm in spiritual form, so I don't have to eat anything to be at my hundred percent, unlike you."

"Eat," Gabriel didn't take no either, showing the same stubbornness.

"I-"

Novius tried to say no, but seeing the look in Gabriel's eyes, he gave in. He smiled as he pulled the plate closer as well.

"Hmm, I must say, it's definitely tasty," Novius commented, taking his first bite. "I think we should repeat it tomorrow as well."

Gabriel didn't initially answer, remaining silent.

After a long time, he spoke, "There won't be a tomorrow for it."

"Hmm?" Novius wondered what he was talking about. "And why won't there be a tomorrow?"

"I'm completely healed." Gabriel further explained. "We'll be having our battle tomorrow."

"I see." Novius lowered his head, glancing at the food. "So that's why you wanted me to eat. This would be our last dinner together."

Gabriel nodded, not showing much expression. He had returned to his usual self, not showing his true emotions on his face. "I wanted to have it with you before you are gone as well."

In his heart, even he felt a bit sad and wanted to delay the battle, but when death was a form of freedom for Novius and Cylix, could he really be that selfish to hold them back because he was greedy?

He had received so much from Cylix and Novius. The only way for him to return some of this favor was by giving them the freedom they desired as soon as he could, even though it left him all alone again in the process.

Novius could feel that the atmosphere was getting a bit down. If it was their last dinner, he wanted Gabriel to enjoy it as well.

"Don't be so sure. Defeating me isn't going to be as easy," Novius let out, flashing a smirk. "Before you know it, we'll be having tomorrow's dinner after you are healed from my thrashing."

For the first time, Gabriel didn't feel bad about that possibility either. Even if it was the case, he wasn't going to be sad. Even if he lost, he could try again, but if Novius lost, that was the end.

"Can I ask you something?" Gabriel broke the silence.

"What?"

"What did you both mean when you said I'm an Exception, for which the Temple of Time will be after me?" Gabriel asked. He still hadn't forgotten that thing.

Novius smiled in response but didn't say anything. He just brought out a small box that was similar to the box that Cylix left behind for him.

"All the answers that you look for are inside that box, along with a small present. But you aren't allowed to open it... At least until you defeat me."

Gabriel held the small box in his hand firmly. Another last gift?

Nodding, he kept the box in his storage, promising to only open it after defeating Novius.

Throughout the night, Novius and Gabriel talked a lot about many things, mostly related to the theory of magic.

"Gabriel, what was your father like?"

Novius and Gabriel had finished dinner and were lying on the soft grass, waiting for sleep to come, when Novius asked a question out of nowhere.

"Why?" Gabriel answered.

"Just wondering if he was as special as you," Novius said as he continued playing with the stars. "Was he also a Mage?"

Gabriel closed his eyes. "I don't know. I never saw him, and he was never a part of my life."

"I see." Novius realized what those words implied. He didn't ask more about it so as to not open up old wounds.

"Mother never told me about him either. She kept saying that she would tell me when I became older, but she also died, leaving me all alone in this world." Even though Novius didn't ask more, Gabriel still answered. "That's why I don't know who my father was. All I know is that he is dead for me... And that's all he'll ever be."

Novius could sense many emotions in Gabriel's voice as he talked about his father. He could sense anger, sadness, and some curiosity as well.

Gabriel didn't know just who his father was or if he was even alive in this world. On one side, he thought that it was better if he wasn't alive since that could explain why he wasn't present in his life and why his mother had to go through all that alone. However, on the other side, he still wanted to know just who that person was...

He let out a tired sigh, changing the topic back to Novius. "What about your father? Was he special?"

"Hahaha, special... I guess you can call him that." Remembering his father brought a smile to his face since he really had lots of fond memories of him.

"My father was the one who taught me most of the things I knew. He was the one who allowed me to chase after my dream of becoming a mage instead of going for the boring routine life of a Prince."

"Prince?" Slightly surprised, Gabriel turned to Novius. This guy... He used to be a Prince?

"Yeah. My full name is Novius Arcadius Arecia, the First Prince of the Arecia Empire and the ex-heir to the throne..." Novius answered.

"Arecia Empire of the East?" Gabriel asked, just to be sure, even though there was only one Arecia Empire. That place was Novius' home?

Novius nodded. "Centuries must've passed in the outside World. I wonder how that place is doing. Since you still know its name, that means it still exists. That's good to know..."

He had been in the Tower for centuries, not knowing what happened in the outside world. Even though he knew that the outside world must've changed a little, it was only when he found out that most of the Dark Mages were wiped did he realize how much the world had truly changed.

Even he was slightly worried if his Empire had also gone extinct in all this, but fortunately, it was there.

"It's really a beautiful place. If you get time, you should visit. I don't know which generation of my family will be on the throne now since so much time has passed, but if they still hold the same values that we did in our time, that place must be really good. Especially the food... If you like the food here, you must try it! That food is the best!"

Novius was so excited as he talked about his Empire since it brought him back to his past, making him remember his past life.

"I will visit it once." Gabriel nodded. If it was really Novius' home and he recommended it so much, Gabriel also wanted to see just what that place was like. He had only heard about the Arecia Empire's name a few times, but not much to give him a general idea as to what that Empire was like.

"That is good... My home..." Novius was already lost in thoughts. His life had been so long that even he had started craving his home. If possible, he wanted to see his home one last time at least.

Unfortunately, that wasn't possible. He was trapped in the Tower as its guardian, and now, he could only be free through death, but that death was Eternal.

He closed his eyes, trying to remember exactly what his home City used to be like.

"Huh?" Gabriel sat up, noticing a castle coming from the ground near him. More and more structures kept coming out of the ground, forming an entire city... It was the Royal City of the Arecia Empire, as Novius remembered it to be.

Novius opened his eyes. He sat up as well, pointing at the castle. "This is my home."

"You really loved your home, didn't you?"

"Who won't?" Novius asked in response as he stood up, walking toward the castle. "You know, I had three younger sisters and two brothers. Whenever they made a mistake, they used to come to me since they were scared of our father's scolding."

"It still amuses me even to think how those little ones would have a family of their own now... Their own lineages... They would've lived their lives, become grown-ups, had children of their own, and even grandchildren before dying of old age."

Novius brought Gabriel inside the castle and showed him his entire home, reminiscing about his past before he had left home to become a powerful Mage of Darkness.

He knew that it was his last night in this world. Even though he told Gabriel that it wasn't easy to defeat him, after seeing Cylix's death, Novius was already prepared for death as well. His death was going to be the last staircase for Gabriel to reach the next floor as well.

He was also quite similar to Cylix as he also remembered the best memories of his life, feeling nostalgic. He wanted to show Gabriel his life and what his past was like.

Throughout the night, Novius showed Gabriel the castle and then gave him a tour of the Royal City. The beautiful moon in the sky still brightened the night under its luminance, bearing witness to the last night where Gabriel was going to be with Novius.

After showing him around, Novius made the city disappear, returning back to the calm and peaceful night, putting an end to their conversation. It had already been a long time, and he knew Gabriel needed some sleep.

Novius didn't want to extend his time in this world more than he had to... He didn't want to manipulate this world anymore, letting natural courses take place.

The time inside this World finally synced back to the time of the real world. Gabriel eventually fell asleep even though he didn't want to.

Throughout the night, Gabriel was the only person who slept. Novius just remained up, looking at the moon in the sky...

"The last night, huh... It's time..."

As the first ray of light fell on Gabriel's face with the arrival of morning, Gabriel opened his eyes, which were also slightly red.

Even though he wanted to sleep, his sleep hadn't been as peaceful as before since he was very uneasy for today... It was the day.

He stood up, noticing Novius was already prepared for the battle. It was also his first time seeing Novius' Magical Staff of Darkness, which was a peak tier Staff! It was just one level below the Ancestral Staffs in terms of Magical Enhancements.

"It seems you're up. Shall we begin?" Novius turned around, hiding so many of his emotions behind a simple staff.

Gabriel also stood up, calling forth his Ancestral Staff of Darkness.

The surroundings of Gabriel and Novius changed. The sun that had just started rising once again disappeared, hiding behind the dark clouds.

The lush green that was filled with life also started disappearing as the area was changed to a barren land made entirely of hard-to-break stones.

Gabriel observed the surroundings, which were similar yet different from his last battle. As the surface here was entirely made of stones, this made this battlefield even harder.

Even though both of them could increase their defense using spells, but their body was still not much different from a human. The way he smacked Cylix on the ground on his previous battlefield, he was sure if he had done that here, at least a few of Cylix's bones would've broken.

This field made the battles even more dangerous with just the terrain itself.

Gabriel started taking off his robe that he had received from the Ancestral Staff of Necromancy.

"You can keep wearing them," Novius informed Gabriel, but Gabriel didn't listen. He kept the robe and everything else in his Spatial Storage before bringing out an ordinary looking shirt.

He didn't take off his rings, but he didn't need to either. Those Numens couldn't activate without his desires, and he wasn't planning on using them, so he didn't need to take them off.

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His old attire didn't wait for his permission as it was a Passive Numen which not only increased his defense and speed but also mainly worked to hide his aura.

After changing into his new attire, both of them were ready for the battle. Around ten meters of distance remained between the two as both of them waited for the other person to attack, signaling the start of the battle.

"You can attack first," Gabriel told Novius, sticking to the same strategy as before. The only difference was that this time, he wasn't going to use the same trick attack. If anything, that attack could only work on Cylix and not on Novius.

Novius was a dark mage who was even more alert to his surroundings. If the attack hadn't worked on Cylix, Gabriel was sure it wasn't going to work for him either.

"You really want to be the second to attack, don't you?" Novius asked, noticing the same tactic being used again. "I don't prefer fighting in close range, so even if I attacked first, you can't take advantage of the situation to get close to me. And without that advantage, the first attack does give a person an edge."

"Are you sure you don't want to take the first strike?" Novius asked again, genuinely giving Gabriel some battle advice.

Gabriel stood firm in his stance. "You can attack first."

He knew all the spells of Novius. Just from those spells alone, it was clear that Novius was a long-range warrior who mostly maintained his distance in battle. That knowledge also gave Gabriel some ideas as well.

Based on that knowledge, he was able to decipher the choices of spells that Novius could use.

'He will either use Dark Enlightening or the Night of Destruction. I doubt he will use the Paradise of Darkness so soon. Since it needs Element of Light to cast the Divine Entrapment of Darkness, that's definitely out of the question. So only two options and both leave an opportunity for me to strike...'

Gabriel held the Ancestral Staff of Darkness firmly, letting dark energy flow through his body freely.

Novius could see that Gabriel was genuinely serious about going second.

"If that's what you desire, then let's start. No playing around anymore."

Novius raised his Peak Tier Staff and spoke a few words, "Paradise of Darkness!"

"Huh?"

Paradise of Darkness was the highest tier of spells that Novius had. Gabriel didn't think he was going to use it right at the start of the battle. It was like Novius wanted to end the battle right away!

The biggest flaw of the spell was that it could only be used for a limited time, and if the enemy couldn't be defeated in that time, it was like wasting a lot of energy and weakening yourself for nothing. That's why he didn't expect Novius to use it right now!

Gabriel had also thought about using the same spell, but he knew that he could only keep the Paradise of Darkness for a short time, which was why he wanted to save it for later when it was the right time, but it was clear that Novius didn't think the same.

Gabriel had planned for the other two spells, but with Paradise of Darkness in play, it changed a lot of things.

The Paradise of Darkness could easily change the surroundings to Novius' advantage, thanks to the dark mist that he could control. He couldn't let that happen without preparation of his own.

He needed to protect himself at any cost, at least until this spell's effect lasted. He could also use the Paradise of Darkness, but he knew it was a waste at this time!

If he also cast the Paradise of Darkness, he could certainly protect himself from Novius' attack, but that was a waste of opportunity. His Paradise of Darkness could definitely establish a stalemate between the two, but his Spiritual Energy was weaker due to him being a mid-tier mage.

His spell couldn't last as long as Novius' spell, so it was clear that whatever stalemate he could establish by casting the Paradise of Darkness was going to be broken soon, and that too in favor of Novius.

After his spell broke, he knew he was going to be a lot weakened, and with the same Paradise effect still in place, Novius could easily thrash him. No matter what, he had to face the Paradise of Darkness!

This also brought an idea to him as well. He had once heard a saying that there was an opportunity hidden in every problem, and he could easily see the one which was hidden here.

This was his ticket to win the battle! His ticket to success! If he could last the entire duration of Novius' Domain Spell without losing, then when the spell was over, Novius was also going to be left a lot weakened. If he cast his Paradise of Darkness at that time, victory was guaranteed!

"But surviving the Paradise of Darkness... That is easier said than done."

"First, I need to stay away from that mist!" Gabriel decided on a plan of action, casting a spell of Darkness. "Wings of Flight!"

As soon as he cast the spell, two wings appeared on his back. The wings not only gave him the ability to fly but also increased his speed which he desperately needed.

Unfortunately for him, even as he flew back, he could see the dark mist was just faster, coming closer to him to take him in its dark embrace.

The Dark Paradise was the domain of Novius, where everywhere moved according to his wish, thanks to the dark mist.

There were many ways to destroy the Dark Paradise according to Novius' teachings, but it wasn't easy to pull off those other ways since they involved using immense Power to destroy the domain of Darkness.

According to Novius, a person could potentially destroy the Domain of Darkness by using a destructive Domain Spell of their own which was even more powerful. Unfortunately, there was no way for Gabriel to cast a more powerful domain.

The only Domain spell he knew was the Paradise of Darkness, and even with the help of Ancestral Staff of Darkness to overcome the gap between their strength, his Domain could at most equal the strength of Novius' Domain which wasn't enough to destroy it.

Another way to destroy the Domain was by using a High Tier Spell of Light that could counter the Darkness, but neither he had that much strength nor could he use the Element of Light. Even his Element of Necromancy wasn't allowed, and he was going to stick to those rules.

"If I can't destroy this, then I need to protect myself! Even if it's him, he shouldn't be able to cast it for long since he's restricting himself to the spiritual energy he would've had when he was alive."

Only one minute had passed since the battle began, and Gabriel was already forced to stop since a wall made of mist covered both of them inside a Giant Dome.

The Domain of Dark Mist even covered the sky, creating a Dome, entrapping Gabriel, leaving no way out. He could either move closer to the walls that were made purely of darkness, or he could stay where he was and mount his own defense.

"Feel like a trapped prey yet?" Novius asked as he walked closer to Gabriel, seemingly in no hurry at all.

"Dark Manifestation."

Gabriel didn't get distracted by Novius' approach. In his mind, he was very clear as to what he had to do.

"Hmm?" Novius smiled, noticing the spell that Gabriel had cast. "Dark Manifestation... A spell that makes you completely invincible for a short time. Too bad in the Manifestation Phase, you can't attack either. Are you trying to bid for time?"

It was a battle where both opponents knew each other's skills. Generally, the mystery about another person's spell was what created a huge difference since there was no way for every Mage to know the exact same spells except in this one case here since Gabriel learned everything about Dark Spells from Novius.

Since Novius taught him these spells, even he knew that this spell was Defensive. Until the effect of Dark Manifestation lasted, Gabriel couldn't even be touched. He was no less than a spiritual manifestation of Darkness at the moment.

"I see. So you're waiting for me to run out of my Spiritual Energy, aren't you?" Novius asked, realizing just what Gabriel was planning. "An advice for the next time when you're fighting real enemies... You should never make your strategy that obvious."

Even at this time, Novius found a teachable moment for Gabriel.

"Remember the first spell I taught you?" He asked. "You could've used the Dark Spectral to distract me and then used the Shadow Dispersal to hide in the shadows."

"That would've served two purposes. It would've given you time to hide and think about your next step. And it would've kept me guessing as to what you were planning since that certainly would've signaled to me that you were planning to sneak attack. I would've had a harder time guessing your real intentions."

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Novius was very analytical of Gabriel's strategy since he really wanted Gabriel to learn something from their battle if it was their last battle.

Gabriel clenched his fist. It wasn't as if he hadn't thought of this idea before. The problem was that those two spells were mid-tier spells that consumed more energy with time.

The only thing he wanted now was to protect himself while saving as much of his energy as he could for when it was the time to strike.

He could keep the Dark Manifestation for as long as he would've been able to keep the Shadow Dispersal with less energy consumption. That's why he didn't care if he exposed his strategy. Sometimes it was much easier to go the straight route than taking a complicated route.

Even if he had followed the strategy suggested by Novius now, it wouldn't be long before Novius had realized that he was wasting time for now. It was just delaying the inevitable, so he just let it come to the open right away.

Novius raised his right hand, casually waving his finger. A dark spear shot straight for Gabriel's head.

Gabriel didn't mind, remaining in his spot. He didn't even flinch as the dark spear passed through his head like it wasn't real. That was the magic of Dark Manifestation!

He was invincible for now, even though he couldn't attack either. This also gave him some time to think about his next plan. He was safe for now, but not long.

'If I'm not wrong, he should be able to keep Paradise of Darkness for close to an hour at most. But surviving an hour with the Spiritual Energy I have... That will be the real challenge...'

He couldn't even use the Divine Barrier of Darkness since its effect could be negated by the Dark Manifestation of Novius as well. That spell was out of the question with a Dark Mage who knew Dark Manifestation. Fortunately, Dark Manifestation was also a spell that Cylix had created with his own understanding of Darkness.

He hadn't taught this to anyone, even on the outside. Most of the people didn't even know about the existence of a spell like that, which was of mid-tier but made a person undefeatable, at least for a few minutes.

'Soon, the effects of Manifestation will be over, and I'll be attacked from all sides...:

Gabriel could already see the Dark Mist around him intensifying as he thought about his next step. Even Novius was quite amused, waiting to see if Gabriel could pull off a surprise. The chances of success for him were nil, at least in this situation.

'The only option you have now is using the Paradise of Darkness..." Novius had a smirk on his face as he guessed Gabriel's next step as well. It was a game of chess for them where both sides had the same players. How they used those players was what changed the outcome...

In this game of chess, none of the two wanted to lose!

The Paradise of Darkness... It was named after the Paradise, but for the people who were trapped inside this place in the past, this was no less than hell itself.

Novius rarely used this spell in real life situations, but whenever he did, he made sure to kill the person that made him use it. Not a single person in a battle with Novius had managed to come out alive.

Fortunately, at present, Novius wasn't fighting an enemy, so he wasn't in any hurry to end the battle. There was not a shred of anger on his face.

As time kept passing, the Dark Manifestation of Gabriel started disappearing as the effects of the spell were near its end.

The shackles made of Dark Mist were waiting to entrap Gabriel as soon as he was out of his Dark Manifestation, and even Gabriel could see it. In any case, he didn't want to be caught since getting out was going to be very hard as well.

"Ten seconds before the spell's Effects are over... What can you do, little one?" Novius asked, wondering if he could actually be surprised by Gabriel.

"Nine..."

He started counting down, having an exact idea when that spell was going to end.

"Eight..."

There was no way out of this situation, according to him, since as soon as Gabriel's spell was over, before he could cast any other spell, his Shackles were going to capture him, even taking his Ancestral Staff from him.

"Seven..."

Gabriel also heard the countdown, and he knew that it was accurate. He only had seven seconds of this spell, but he had already thought of a way as well.

He held his Ancestral Staff firmly.

"Five..."

Novius had just spoken when Gabriel swung his Ancestral Staff of Darkness, canceling his Dark Manifestation before it was time. Novius knew exactly when his spell was going to end, so the best way to throw him off was to end the spell much sooner! That was the plan, at least.

Gabriel understood that Novius knew he was trying to vie for time, so it was clear that he was going to hold out with each spell as much as he could, utilizing every second, but that's where he was wrong.

For his own safety and to gain an element of surprise, Gabriel changed his strategy midway. He ended his spell, even though it meant wasting a few seconds of his precious spell.

Initially surprised, Novius was slow to react since he had already decided to use his Shackles at the end of his count when the spell supposedly ended.

Even the slightest delay in his reaction now gave Gabriel an opportunity.

"Shadow Dispersal!" Gabriel chanted, turning into a shadow that disappeared into the Dark Domain.

"Even that can't save you, my dear disciple!" Novius started rising in the air. Since he knew Gabriel wanted to waste time, even he decided to grant Gabriel's wish this time.

He flew high in the air since the shadow couldn't reach the air. If Gabriel wanted to fly, he had to cancel the Shadow Dispersal, which meant he had to come out of hiding. That way, Novius knew that Gabriel couldn't attack him from behind.

Boom~

As soon as the man settled down in this air, something solid came, hitting him straight in the head, sending him flying back to the ground.

Gabriel appeared out of thin air where Novius was standing before. It was as if he was expecting this from Novius. He even knew the exact spot where to hide.

With the distraction of the Dark Manifestation, Novius had forgotten that there was another spell that Gabriel had cast before that looked quite ordinary... It was the Wings of Light.

Because the spell was so basic that it even skipped Novius' mind. When Gabriel ended his Dark Manifestation, he kept his Wings of Flight.

In essence, Gabriel cast two spells at the same time, all with the expectations of getting Novius. He also didn't speak before the attack this time, learning a lesson from his battle with Cylix!

The Ancestral Staff of Darkness was similar to a magical staff, helping the caster strengthen their spell, but as it was an Ancestral Tier Staff, it was also unbreakable, working as a blunt weapon in situations like this.

Novius was hit out of nowhere, being momentarily surprised as well as stunned. The attack wasn't weak either. Even with his hardened defense, he could still feel blood trickling down his forehead as he flew back.

Fortunately, before he could fall to the ground, his mist captured him, softening his fall.

Gabriel didn't chase after Novius but for a reason. As Novius was stunned, trying to balance himself on the ground with his aching head, Gabriel had already finished casting another spell.

The defensive battle had gone on for long. Even Novius knew what he was planning, and if he still wasn't stressed enough, that meant he knew that even with all defensive spells, Gabriel couldn't outlast his Paradise of Darkness. This was also why Gabriel changed his strategy back to an offensive one.

It didn't matter if Novius had the invincible Paradise of Darkness; he was going to break it down, and more with his own Paradise of Darkness.

"Night of Darkness!"

A second spell was cast by Gabriel, which turned the entire world pitch black. Even Novius couldn't see anything in this darkness.

Night of Darkness was another spell that had a very short range. It only had ten meters of range, but as long as the spell was in effect, no one except the Caster could see anything within those ten meters. It was like the entire world was swallowed by eternal darkness, which took everyone's vision with it.

"I see... It seems you're getting serious. I should also oblige." A dark robe appeared behind Novius, made purely of the dark mist in the surrounding.

His body started rising in the air once again, but this time he kept his eyes closed. Since the world was already dark, there were only two ways to see. Either he could leave the range of the spell, or he could fight without sight, but for him, the latter option was more interesting.

Swiss~

Novius moved to the left gracefully, avoiding another attack. Gabriel had once again appeared behind Novius, who couldn't see. Surprisingly, even without his eyes, Novius avoided the attack.

Boom~

Thousands of Dark Needles appeared all around him, shooting in every direction, especially in the back where Novius expected Gabriel to be standing.

"Wrong place..." Gabriel's voice came, but this time it didn't come from behind Novius. It came from above.

Novius flew toward the source of the voice, only to sense a destructive energy under him as if a powerful spell was being cast into the ground.

"Night of Destruction!"

Gabriel's voice came, surprisingly, this time from the ground. Even though Novius taught Gabriel every spell he knew, even he was surprised at how Gabriel was doing it. How was he switching places so fast? It was as if there wasn't just one Gabriel here!

Gabriel cast the Night of Destruction, which was the most powerful individual spell of Novius if one was to ignore the Paradise of Darkness. The only problem was that the spell wasn't easy to cast as it took the blood of the caster and time to set it up as well.

The lengthy preparation was what made this spell the hardest to use since that much time was enough for the opponent to defeat a person.

It was only now that Novius started realizing everything! The [Dark Manifestation, then the [Shadow Transformation, followed by the [Night of Darkness, it was all a plot by Gabriel!

"Ha... Haha… Hahaha!" Novius bursts into laughter, realizing what just happened. "That was very..."

A powerful destructive energy spread out in all directions, mostly going to the sky where Novius was standing.

The dark yet destructive energy shrouded Novius, who was in the air and away from the protection of his mist, taking him in its embrace…

Novius was amazed to think that Gabriel had made such an elaborate plan. Not only had Gabriel brought him exactly where he needed, but he did all that while keeping everything hidden, causing a distraction by throwing a faint.

Strangely enough, for the first time, he got the wrong idea about it. It wasn't what Gabriel had planned, at least not initially. He really hadn't thought of such an elaborate trick since it needed the help of great luck.

Not only did Novius have to be at the exact place, but he also needed to move in a completely identical pattern for this trick to work.

It was only after Gabriel used the Night of Darkness that he thought of this possibility. It was clear that Novius couldn't see anything under his effect, but he could still fight back, even without seeing. He had incredible senses as well, which made Gabriel smile wryly.

The idea of using the Night of Destruction was something that even Gabriel couldn't avoid after noticing Novius not leaving his range.

Even though it all wasn't a part of the plan, sometimes on, spot plans were what every warrior needed. Not only did Gabriel have the flexibility of changing his plan, but he also did so for the better.

A powerful dark energy shot up, creating something like a Tower of Darkness that engulfed Novius.

The tower made of darkness made it impossible for even Gabriel to see what was happening inside, but he had a feeling that it was his victory. Even Novius couldn't avoid this attack since he was right at the eye of it. Moreover, most of the mist that he could control was on the ground, which would've taken him time to call upon.

"It looks like this is it..." Gabriel sighed, feeling like the battle was over. Being hit by this attack, even Novius couldn't survive. "You left..."

"Huh?" Gabriel was already believing Novius to be dead as the Dark Tower's destructive energy started disappearing, bringing Gabriel a surprise. Not only was Novius still in the air, but he was completely unharmed. There was not a single scratch on his body.

"Dark Manifestation," Gabriel commented.

Novius only smiled in response. "If I can teach you this spell, surely you should assume that I can use it for myself, and what better time than this."

"Still, I must say. It was a good attempt, to say the least. Unfortunately, but good enough," Novius came down to the ground. The effects of Night of Darkness were over, and so were any other spells that Gabriel had cast, except his Wings of Flight.

"Now that you've had your chance let me get started too—time to increase the stakes. There are only two options before you now! Either you kill me today, or you die today! There won't be a tomorrow for both of us!"

Novius' figure disappeared, and the next moment, he appeared right behind Gabriel, finding him by his collar to raise him in the air before sending him flying in the back.

Gabriel tried to control his body in the air, using his Wings of Flight, but his balance was hard to gain. He didn't know what Novius did when he touched him, but his wings weren't working as effectively as before.

Thud~

Even without the complete control of his wings, Gabriel could still slow down his body, but before he could completely stop, his body crashed into a wall of darkness, made using the Mist of the Domain.

The wall wasn't simple either, as there were multiple spikes coming out of it, one of which managed to pass through Gabriel's stomach.

"Argh!"

Groaning in pain, Gabriel coughed out a mouthful of blood. Novius was right. He had become slightly careless. Since he realized that Novius wanted to die, he subconsciously started taking things easy, believing he wasn't going to be killed, but Novius just proved how right he was.

Gabriel placed his hands on the wall and pushed his body forward to bring the dark stake out of his body.

A hole was left behind in Gabriel's stomach, which was bleeding, covering his clothes in blood. Fortunately, his vitals were missed. It was unclear if it was just a coincidence that his vitals weren't hit or if it was intentional, but he knew he couldn't take the risk.

Novius once again appeared behind Gabriel, using the same trick, trying to show that he wasn't going to go easy anymore.

He reached out his hand to grab Gabriel's neck this time, but as if expecting something like this, Gabriel turned around, swinging his Staff of Darkness like a blunt Weapon.

Novius gracefully sidestepped the attack, avoiding the attack. At the same time as Gabriel was distracted by Novius, Dark Shackles came out of the group, wrapping themselves around his foot, even going for his hands.

Gabriel ignored the shackles and cast another spell just as Novius dodged the attack as if he was expecting this step

"Maelstrom!" Gabriel cast a new spell.

Boom~

A whirlpool of dark energy appeared between the two Mages, sending both of them flying back, hurting Novius more than it hurt Gabriel.

Maelstrom was another Mid Tier spell of darkness that hurt the caster as well as the opponent. The only difference was that the caster only took a fraction of the damage that the opponent could take from this attack.

The best part about this attack was that it immediately removed the mist from their surroundings, at least momentarily.

Gabriel tapped the dark shackles with his Ancestral Staff, breaking them instantly before observing Novius in the distance, who had managed to gain his ground, balancing himself.

There were some wounds and cut marks around his body, including his cheeks which were bleeding, but he still seemed carefree.

"If it keeps going on like this, I'm never going to defeat him. I have the same spells as him, all of which are either as strong as his or weaker. My spiritual strength is also less than his. The scales are really unbalanced. Just how long before his Dark Paradise is over?'

It had been quite some time since the battle started, and Gabriel was still waiting for Novius' Domain Spell to end, but that wasn't happening either.

Novius couldn't help but laugh, realizing what Gabriel was thinking. He could see Gabriel occasionally observing the Dark Domain. He was definitely waiting.

"If you're waiting for my spell to end, then let me tell you, that's not going to happen. I can keep my Domain for two hours..." Novius explained as the Dark Mist once again returned to its usual place after momentarily being dispersed by the Maelstrom.

"Two hours?" Gabriel's face turned grim. This was unexpected and quite troublesome. He couldn't wait for two hours!